Caught in the Whirlpool
by Quill of Molliemon
Summary: AU, follows "Let's Go Safari!".  Kushina planned on returning to the Land of Whirlpools after she married  if she ever returned , but life doesn't always go as planned... But it can't get any worse, right?  Read, review, and enjoy!
1. Part I

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto_ or _Pokémon_. If I did, I'd have a lot of money…but I don't. So don't bother suing, you won't get anything out of it.

**Notes:** (Crossover, could be a crack!fic if you want) Here there be Naruto characters and Pokémon monsters! This is a story which takes place around the end of the events of "Let's Go Safari!" and beyond.

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Caught in the Whirlpool<strong>

_Part I_

"You want me to go…_where_?" Kushina asked sharply as she glanced up from the notes that she was copying.

"I would like you to go help Professor Utatane at her lab outside of Uzu Town in the Land of Whirlpools," Professor Sarutobi repeated calmly. "One of her assistants is off on his month-long honeymoon and the other recently broke his leg. Koharu tells me that there's something odd going on in her area and she needs someone able-bodied, trustworthy, and good with pokémon to help her. You'll get double-pay for your trouble."

"Why me?" Kushina demanded. "Why not send Iruka or Ebisu?"

"You are familiar with the area and the local culture," Hiruzen replied.

"_Uzu no Kuni_ is a patriarchal sort of place so men automatically get more respect there than women," she argued.

"Professor Utatane is a woman and she does alright out there," the old man chuckled.

"When I was a little girl, all the kids I knew were sure that she was some sort of witchy mad scientist," Kushina snorted.

"From what Koharu tells me, the Uzumaki clan is one of the oldest families and consequently has a great deal of respect. You can serve Professor Utatane better than some unknown foreign man," Hiruzen responded.

"That might be true…if I'd been born a boy," Kushina grumbled sourly.

"If you go, you'll have the opportunity to see your family again," the old professor pointed out. "I know that you have issues with them, but the last time you had any real interactions with them was when you were a young girl. Time has passed and you're a woman now. Perhaps you'll have a chance to reconcile and have a positive relationship."

"I don't think so," the red-head scoffed and bent back to working on the notes.

"You won't know unless you try," the professor shrugged. "Think it over."

"Yeah, yeah," Kushina grumbled as the old man left. _Stupid old man being all smart and logical and making all kinds of sense…_

* * *

><p>Kenjiro Uzumaki paced around the central battling pool at the heart of his gym. The land that the building was located on—the tiny chunk of rock just off shore of the main island of <em>Uzu no Kuni<em> too tiny to bear any name of its own—had been held by his family for as long as anyone could remember. It was the oldest of the four gyms in the Land of Whirlpool's league and had always been regarded as the most difficult.

And it was also the most ornately decorated. The other three gyms were simple buildings made of steel and concrete, or wood and stone, with minimal decoration that hinted at the leader's particular specialization. The Uzumaki gym had been wood once, too, but a fire had burned it down to the foundations about a hundred years ago, and the gym leader of the day had rebuilt it in grand style. Now it was a structure of carved stone, concrete pillars, and tall windows with the interior walls covered in murals and mosaics formed by tiny colored tiles.

_What a waste of money,_ he mentally sighed.

The roof leaked in a dozen different places now and one of the smaller secondary battle pools was so badly cracked that it wouldn't hold water. All of the murals had tiles missing; some were so damaged it was difficult to make out the details of the image. And one of the huge windows had been completely shattered and had yet to be replaced.

In the past such problems had been quickly and easily repaired. Insurance covered most of the cost and the clan's fund always was able to cover the rest. But times were different now—the clan was smaller and all but broke, and the insurance company had dropped them when they couldn't pay their premiums. With no money, nothing got fixed, and more things broke.

His clan, much like his gym, was a shadow of its former glory. Fewer children had been born over the generations and more of those children had grown up to die childless. Of his two brothers one had died as a teenager in an accident and the other had been killed trying to rescue a sinking ship's crew during a terrible storm after having a single daughter. And of his large clutch of children, only his eldest son had married and fathered a child. His other three sons showed no desire to marry or have children or pursue any ambition at all. And of his daughter…

Kenjiro shook his head and paused by one of the largest murals, which depicted the fabled mysterious founder of his bloodline along with the monsters which had made him legendary in his time. His name and most other details about his life had long been lost to time so the image of the man himself was vague, with his face turned away. The old gym leader brushed his fingertips over the red tiles that formed part of the gyarados and sighed as he tried to pull his thoughts out of the old grooves worn by comparing the glorious past to the increasingly bleak present.

With fewer Uzumaki around, the clan as a whole brought in less money. Since his younger brother's death he'd been saddled with supporting his sister-in-law, Asuka, and his niece, Akane, who had yet to marry and move out. Kenshin was stuck paying alimony to his ex-wife, Suzume, since she hadn't remarried. And Arashi's current problem kept him deep in debt and was threatening to draw the whole family in after him.

_If we can't find a good infusion of cash soon, we might have to start holding all gym matches outside in the ocean to keep this place from falling apart…_

"Dad?" Kenshin's voice echoed through the vast main chamber. "Another call from some mainland folks that want to set up a televised exhibition match."

Kenjiro let a brief bitter smile twist his lips before smoothing the expression away and approaching his eldest child. Of all his offspring, Kenshin was the only one that was really going anywhere. The boy—man, now—had (briefly) married, had a son, and sometime soon would fully take over the gym as its leader. He often wondered what he'd done right with Kenshin that he'd done wrong with all of his other children.

"What did you tell them?" Kenjiro asked.

"That we would consider it and get back to them," Kenshin answered promptly. "I know that you've never accepted an offer like that before, but…it could attract foreign trainers, foreign businesses, tourists, and their money."

Their land was a proud and stubborn one. They didn't much care to attract tourists or outsiders of any kind. All they wanted was a market for their fish, quarried stone, and other goods, and people to sell them what they couldn't produce on their own.

And being a proud and stubborn man, Kenjiro had never once even considered accepting a deal to have a staged match between himself and some other nations' hotshot trainers, televised or not. Pokémon battles were between two trainers and their pokémon to prove which man was better. It was not some show for a TV audience to ogle. The money that he'd been offered to do it had almost been an insult instead of an inducement.

"…Haggle up the price if you can, but tell them yes," Kenjiro sighed.

Kenshin started in surprise. "Dad?"

"You heard me." Kenjiro wearily shook his head. "We're no good at investing and since money doesn't grow on trees we need to get it from somewhere."

"…I'll go back home and call them back, then," Kenshin said once he recovered his composure. He started to leave, but hesitated. "Aunt Asuka's made some long-distance phone calls and it's driving the bill up."

"I'll talk to her after dinner tonight," Kenjiro promised with a slight grimace. "If she doesn't have a damn good reason for the calls, I'll get her to stop."

"Thanks, Dad." Kenshin smiled in relief and left.

_What did my brother ever see in that woman?_ he wondered for the thousandth time. _And why the hell did he have to die and leave me stuck with her?_

He left the founder's mural and walked around to the other side of the pool where the legendary Mito Uzumaki's mural was set into the wall. Even though the tiles made it impossible for there to be tiny details like patterns on cloth in the image, she was clearly wearing an intricate kimono and her red hair was elaborately styled and ornamented. Her pokémon posed fiercely in a protective circle around her and looked anything but docile, like a woman's pokémon were supposed to be.

_"I'm gonna be just like her when I grow up, Daddy… No, no, I'm going to be __**better**__! And I'll never wear a stupid dress, neither!"_

Kenjiro sighed and headed for the back office to check over the books before heading home for dinner and an argument with his sister-in-law.

* * *

><p>The night was inky black as a large rowboat slipped through the waves to a small fishing trawler anchored just off shore. When the rowboat reached the trawler, one of the rowers banged his oar against the metal hull several times in a particular pattern. Ropes dropped over the fishing boat's side to hold the rowboat steady while several crates were lowered down to the small wooden vessel.<p>

To avoid drawing attention to their activities, the transfer was done in darkness with instructions exchanged in loud whispers. The operation was running smoothly until it was time for the very last crate. A rope that had been rubbing against some hidden jagged edge frayed and snapped, dropping the wooden box at an awkward angle and almost crushing one of the men in the rowboat.

"Damn it!" someone cursed harshly. "That almost punched through the bottom!"

"What a cheap crate…one whole side looks like it splintered," another muttered.

"Somebody get a flashlight!" a third commanded.

A dim flashlight was clicked on and the illumination that it provided revealed the extent of the damage. The busted crate was deformed and several planks had splintered. And worst of all, a viscous fluid was leaking from all of the cracks in the container—a clear indication that the goods inside were ruined.

"Shit," a man grumbled. "…We'll toss it over the side when we're halfway back to shore. The current will carry whatever doesn't sink miles away."

The others agreed and hurriedly secured the cargo that was undamaged so that it didn't shift. With that done, they untied their ship from the trawler, attaching a money bag to one of the securing ropes to pay the other boat for their services. And then the rowboat cast off and paddled back to the dark shore, pausing only to offload the defective crate.

The illicit exchange had taken a little more than a half an hour, and no one witnessed a thing.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kushina stalked into Professor Sarutobi's office with a hefty duffel bag slung over her shoulder and a sour look on her face.<p>

"Alright, you win, I'll go," she growled.

The old man's arguments had chased their way through her head all night. She still didn't like it, but she couldn't deny that he'd made some very good points. And so she'd caved.

"I'm glad to hear that," Professor Sarutobi smiled and Kushina had a strong suspicion that he'd predicted her change of heart from the very beginning. "I'll make sure that your property is taken care of while you're away."

"Thanks," Kushina sighed glumly.

"It's no trouble at all," the old man assured her cheerfully. "I hope that you have a good trip."

"Me, too," she grumbled as she left. _But somehow, I doubt it…_


	2. Part II

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part II_

_It's a good thing that I have a maid service,_ Minato reflected as he sprawled on the couch in his apartment in the capital of the Land of Fire. _Otherwise this place would be full of dust and cobwebs with how little I've been here lately._

He didn't want to keep renting the place; it seemed like a waste of money because he spent even less time living in it than he had originally. But it was good to use as on official address. So long as the public was convinced that he lived there, Kushina's house would remain safe and obscure.

_Perhaps I should offer the place to Genma after I get married…_

A silly grin crept over his face at that thought. They still hadn't found a solid date, but they hoped to get it done before the end of the year. It would be a simple civil ceremony—that much he'd expected from the start since Kushina wasn't big on dresses and elaborate ceremonies. There might be some kind of party afterwards, and Minato really hoped that he could arrange a nice vacation to serve as the honeymoon.

His door buzzer sounded, interrupting his daydreams of the places that he could take her. With a sigh he sat up and ambled over to the intercom to see who it was. Hopefully it would be something important.

_"Hey, let me in,"_ Genma's voice crackled over the speaker. _"I've got a job for you."_

Minato unlocked the door and waited for his assistant and agent to arrive and explain.

"I've got you an exhibition match," Genma half-grinned as he stepped into Minato's apartment with a sheaf of papers tucked under one arm. "The league finally got some gym leader in some piddling little island country called _Uzu no Kuni_ to agree to host a fight."

"The Land of Whirlpools?" Minato repeated, startled.

He'd never been to the northerly nation of islands himself, but his Uncle Jiraiya had visited there twice when he and Kushina had been…estranged. His uncle hadn't found the red-head there and gotten a very cold shoulder when he'd started asking around. All the white-haired man had found out was that Kushina had lived there as a girl and hadn't been heard from or seen since she'd abandoned the place to start her pokémon journey.

"Yeah, I've never heard of the place either," Genma shrugged. "But apparently its tiny league is one of the oldest in the area. There are only four gyms, but the one that agreed to the deal is the oldest and the toughest."

"Hmm…sounds interesting," Minato nodded slowly.

"I thought you would," Genma said as he put a fresh toothpick in his mouth. "I got all your travel arrangements squared away so get ready, you need to leave in two hours."

"Thanks," Minato chuckled, took the papers from Genma, and shoved the man towards the door. "I'll go pack."

"You're welcome," Genma grinned. "Hey, are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend anytime soon?"

"Maybe," Minato shrugged and closed his apartment door before Genma could pester him more on the subject.

_Speaking of my girlfriend, I should let her know that I'll be out of the country for a little while…_

He called her house a few times, but only got her answering machine. He ended up leaving a message, but didn't mention exactly where he was going. She was very much against him meeting her family and if she knew that he was going to visit her old country she'd do her damndest to talk him out of it.

_I'll tell her all the details when I get back from Whirlpool Country._ With that resolved, he went about packing his bags._ She'll be pissed, but she'll forgive me._

_ Eventually._

* * *

><p>Inaho slumped in her messy cubicle and folded origami cranes to pass the time. She thought of herself as a serious news writer, but the only solid employment that she'd been able to win was with the <em>Chatot's Chatter<em>, the least credible tabloid in the Land of Fire. Sometimes she was able to sell articles to more respected papers, but "sometimes" didn't pay the bills.

_I hate this place sooo much…_

Real news had been slow lately, which meant they'd been busy inventing stories to sell to the masses. They searched the internet for all kinds of conspiracy theories, sightings of mythical pokémon or unknown pokémon species, and ridiculous hoaxes and reported on them as if they were real issues. It was a great exercise in creative writing skills, but it got old for Inaho really fast.

Her computer chirped, indicating that she had a fresh e-mail and she set aside her newest paper crane to see what was up. The message was from one of her carefully cultivated sources and her pulse fluttered faster. This could lead her to a real story instead of another faked picture of a human-pokémon hybrid. As her eyes skimmed the message, she almost cheered out loud.

_Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Oh yes!_

Minato Namikaze was going to participate in a televised exhibition battle in a foreign gym. Because he was a big celebrity, she could get the _Chatter_ to defray her travel expenses. And whatever she could dig up on him, no matter how small, could be really big if she was the only one to get the scoop.

The league champion was one of her favorite celebrity subjects. He was not only talented and extremely handsome, but he was by all accounts a genuinely nice guy. And he was also incredibly mysterious. Very little was known about him before he'd been thrust into the spotlight after defeating the previous champion, and because of the nomadic lifestyle of pokémon trainers it was difficult to glean much from what could be traced of his movements. Details like who he'd traveled with and what he'd done in-between gym challenges and tournament appearances were much speculated on, but completely unknown.

Inaho had always personally wondered about the romantic angle of his story. Minato had been linked to dozens and dozens of women by all sorts of newspapers and magazines, but all of them had turned out to be nothing. There had even been stories about him with _men_, but none of those had panned out either.

_He's got to be asexual,_ Inaho thought as she hurriedly put together a proposal for her boss so that she could get her hands on a company credit card. _A beautiful man like him should have a gorgeous wife and a stable of adorable children by now. Heck, he should have a handsome __**boyfriend**__ by now if he's not into women!_

She did a quick search on the country where Minato Namikaze would be traveling to and frowned a little when not much came up. It was a nation made up of a handful of islands. It was larger than the tiny Land of Waves, smaller than the multi-island Land of Water, and more northerly than either country. They were big on fish, quarried stone, pottery, and not much else.

And that was it.

_Huh, maybe I can find time to write up a travel piece on this Land of Whirlpools while I'm out there to sell on the side…_

* * *

><p>After three days of train rides Kushina had caught the big ferry from the mainland to South Uzu Island and was now on the local ferry to Central Uzu Island. Soon the boat would reach Uzu Town's docks and she would be back in her birthplace. And the closer the ferry came to the harbor and the docks, the darker her mood became.<p>

_This is a mistake, this is a mistake, this is a mistake…_

The moment that she'd committed to this trip and set foot on her first train, she started mentally kicking herself. Doubts and nightmarish situations danced through her brain with increasing frequency as she drew nearer to her destination. If she could've backed out of this journey, she would have before even reaching the border of the Land of Fire.

With a weary groan she leaned up against the ferry railing and stared into the murky saltwater. The smattering of islands that formed _Uzu no Kuni_ were surrounded by dangerous strong currents that, when mixed with the rocky shorelines and ingoing and outgoing tides, formed whirlpools of all sizes. And when the five main islands—West Uzu, North Uzu, East Uzu, South Uzu, and Central Uzu—were looked at on a map, they sort of formed a spiral shape going out from Central, through North, and all the way around to South. It was really no wonder that the people that first lived here called the place "Whirlpool Country".

"Seasick?" a friendly male voice asked.

Kushina glanced up to see a man about her age standing at the rail beside her. He had bluish-black hair and pale brown eyes and a hint of a tattoo peeked out from under the right sleeve of his brown leather jacket. She was pretty sure that she'd never met this man before, but something about his facial features gave her the feeling that she was familiar with his family.

"No," she replied tersely. "Just gloomy."

"I can't say that I've ever seen you around before," the stranger remarked. "My name is Shun Kurohi."

She swallowed a sigh at this information. The Kurohi clan in general thought that they were the greatest of the ten ancient clans of Uzu by virtue of the fact that they bred and raised dragons. They were the greatest rival to the Uzumaki clan and in the distant past there had even been a blood feud between them.

"Hi," Kushina muttered.

"We don't get many strangers coming to the heart of Uzu," Shun said. "So what brings a beautiful maiden like yourself to this place?"

"Business," she responded tartly. "And I'm engaged."

"Really?" Shun quirked an eyebrow. "I don't see any diamond on your finger."

Kushina flashed her _heart scale_ necklace at him. "This is my engagement present."

"Ah… Your man has good taste." He glanced around at the ferry deck to either side of them. "Where is he? Are you here all by yourself?"

"I'm a big girl," she said dryly. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Before he could irritate her any further, she abandoned the rail and returned to her seat inside the warmer, less windy cabin. To her great relief, Shun didn't follow her. But almost as soon as she'd sat down the ferry captain came over the public address system and informed the passengers that they'd reach the dock in ten minutes.

_Just great…_

* * *

><p>Arashi Uzumaki cursed through clenched teeth as his last pachinko ball bounced its way through the machine and disappeared without earning him any new metal balls to play with. He angrily hopped off his stool and dug around in his pockets for more money. Eventually he came up with a few bills, but hesitated.<p>

_No, I should save this._ He grimaced and skulked out of the smoky pachinko parlor and onto Uzu Town's gloomy streets._ If I come back home broke, they'll know that I've been gambling again._

He knew he had a bit of a problem, but it wasn't nearly as serious as his father and brothers made it out to be. Yes, he lost a lot of money, but that was only because he never picked the right time to quit and walk away with his winnings. When he'd lose money he'd be compelled to try and win it all back, and at best that led to him just breaking even.

His father treated him like a useless moron. Aunt Asuka looked at him like he was a leper. Kenshin would always shake his head sadly whenever he heard that Arashi was out of money again. And Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora got all nervous and awkward when he would talk about pachinko or poker around them. They all judged him and looked down on him like he was some raging alcoholic when most of the time he had it under control and he was so incredibly sick of it.

_Kushina was the smart one. She got the hell out of here as soon as she could._ He spat on the street and headed towards his favorite vending machine for a snack. _I wish that I could do the same._

But to leave Uzu, he'd need some savings and a lot less debt. He'd never been one for much camping out in the wilds and he'd never experienced much wanderlust. Battling pokémon had never been much more than an occasional hobby for him; placing bets had always been his real adrenalin rush…

Arashi reached his favored vending machine, fed it a few coins, and punched the keys to get a highly caffeinated fizzy drink.

_Maybe if I'd left when I was young, I'd be better off right now,_ he pondered. _Kushina's got her own house on the mainland somewhere, or at least an apartment—something that gives her a fixed address to send letters from. And she claims that she's getting married, when I can't seem to keep a girlfriend for longer than six months!_

His surprise encounter with his long-lost sister in Jungle Country had been a real shock to him. The tomboyish brat had been unrecognizable and her apparently successful life was like a kick to his teeth. He hadn't told Akane about what he'd learned, and when he'd brought his cousin home his father had lectured him about wasting some of his travel funds on a few spins of a slot machine so he hadn't felt like sharing his story. But Aunt Asuka had managed to weasel details out of him when he'd tried asking her if she'd ever seen his father sneaking letters out of the daily mail before anyone else could see them.

_I guess she must've found the letters with all those long-distance phone calls Dad was complaining about her making,_ Arashi snorted as he cracked open his drink can and took a big swig. _It's too bad he never asked Aunt Asuka who she was calling—_

A flash of red in the corner of his eye drew his attention to the figure of a red-haired woman with a large bag just as she rounded a corner across the street from him.

_Kushina? …Nah, couldn't be. She wouldn't come back here after escaping from this hell hole…_

* * *

><p>It had been over two decades since she'd set foot on Uzu Town's streets, but it hadn't seemed like it as Kushina had passed through on her way to Professor Utatane's lab. A few shops that she remembered from her youth had closed and there was one brand new building, but nothing else seemed to have changed. Uzu Town almost seemed immune to the passage of time and she found herself another reason to be glad that she'd escaped.<p>

The woman professor's lab was equally unchanged from the last time that Kushina had seen it after acquiring Crusher and her pokédex and then running off to catch the next ferry. It was a small group of plain concrete buildings perched on a hill a quarter mile outside of Uzu Town. Kushina shifted her duffel bag strap on her shoulder as she came up to the front door and gathered her nerve to knock…

The door swung open before she could raise her fist and the elderly Professor Koharu Utatane squinted out at her. She was visibly older than Kushina remembered with her hair now entirely gray and much deeper lines around her eyes and mouth. She had slightly larger and more elaborate sticks holding her hair in her style of bun and she was wearing new earrings, but her style of dress was the same.

"You're here," the old woman grumbled. "Well, come in."

Kushina swallowed and stepped inside after the professor. The interior was a bit older and less sophisticated than Professor Sarutobi's, but then again the building had been first built by a previous pokémon researcher and upgraded when Koharu had moved in. The old woman brought her to a conference room and waved her towards a chair, then sat down herself.

"So what has Hiruzen told you?" Professor Utatane asked.

"That you needed help because you've temporarily lost your two assistants," Kushina answered.

"Huh, so not much." The old woman tucked her hands into her sleeves and leaned back. "I would've done without Ishida and Yoshi until they could return to work, except that I've stumbled over a mystery. Pokémon that should not be here have turned up lately. Perhaps they were washed in by recent storms, perhaps they've become lost from their migration routes, or maybe some smugglers got sloppy and lost some cargo."

"Smugglers?" Kushina frowned.

"You sound surprised," Koharu chuckled. "You shouldn't be. With how sluggish the local economy's been and for how long it's been that way there are all kinds of smuggling and black market activities going on here. There's a minor island off the shore of North Uzu that now hosts a small population of wild piplups that I've persuaded the police to protect because some smugglers were extremely inept and accidently released a dozen breeding pairs into the area."

"I've…just never heard much about the subject around here before," Kushina shrugged uncomfortably. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Check the coastline for what doesn't belong," the professor snorted. "So far I only have a few confused reports from fishermen on what's gotten loose this time so I'd like your help in acquiring at least one specimen. And keep your eye out for unusual things washing ashore. Just yesterday I found the remains of a crate that had smashed pokémon eggs in it that I haven't had much luck identifying."

"They smashed pokémon eggs?" Kushina hissed through her teeth.

"Surely not on purpose," the old woman said. "Unidentified eggs can go for a fortune on the black market with the right salesman. Some klutz probably dropped the crate during some kind of move, the eggs got damaged, and were thrown away. There was one survivor that I've got in the lab's incubator right now, but I can't determine what species it belongs to either."

"You can't match it to anything in the egg database?" the red-head blinked.

"The egg database is a joke," Koharu scoffed. "It was never comprehensive and completely lacked non-standard shell patterns that resulted from some mixed species matings. And now that new pokémon species are being imported, it's even more out of date. Evolution, pokémon language, fossils, and a dozen other pokémon subjects are more popular research topic than eggshell patterns!"

Kushina mutely nodded in agreement.

"Anyway where was I?" The woman professor rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Ah yes, talk to any fishermen or travelers that you meet to see if they've seen any unfamiliar pokémon in the area, and get your brothers to help you. I've tried to get some townies to help me with my inquiries but they always seem to forget that they agreed to keep me in their gossip loops."

"And I'll be able to keep them on task?" the young woman muttered dubiously.

"Of course you will. You're not an outsider like me… And," she added, "try to visit the Sealed Shrine once a day to feed Kyuumaru."

"Akane doesn't feed him anymore?" Kushina asked in disbelief. "She was in love with him when I left."

"She fell out of love with him when it became clear that she couldn't persuade him to join her performance squad," Koharu replied dryly. "Akane still leaves him meals on occasion, but she's gone more than a third of the year on contest circuits. And most of the other families that used to leave him offerings have fallen out of the habit."

"Alright, I'll make sure to feed Kyuumaru," Kushina nodded.

"Good, you'll start tomorrow; come here bright and early," the professor instructed.

Kushina frowned. "What, I'm not staying here?"

"Of course not!" Koharu cackled. "The living quarters in this lab are barely big enough for me! You have family that you can stay with if you don't want to spend the money for a motel room."

The red-haired woman's shoulders sagged in dismay.

_Aw, crap…_

* * *

><p>Professor Sarutobi settled in his private office and locked the door. He unlocked one of his desk drawers and pulled out a sheaf of papers. With a grim look on his face he studied them yet again.<p>

_Nothing concrete enough to hand over to the police without them demanding my source. The Syndicate surely has some spies in the police force, but Itachi doesn't know who. Perhaps…I should tell Danzou some of what I know._

His old peer was a mysterious fellow. Hiruzen had invited him along on a few risky adventures long ago in their youth, and while he was a prickly sort he was also dependable and protective of his home country. Anything that would insure the security of _Hi no Kuni_, its resources, and historical treasures he would gladly do. He knew that Danzou was up to something that he felt would keep the Land of Fire's powers out of the wrong hands even now that he was officially retired. And he was also sure that it was…extra-legal.

_He would never join forces with these criminals, especially if they're out to capture the legendary pokémon that old stories claim to be guardian spirits of the land. In the worst case scenario he'd probably try to—_

A knock at his door jolted him from his dark musings.

"Yes?"

_"Professor,"_ Ebisu's voice said through the door. _"Naruto Uzumaki is on the video phone for you."_

"Transfer it to my office, please," Sarutobi instructed and put the papers back in the locked drawer.

A minute later the video screen on his desktop came alive and his female assistant's son's face looked back at him through it.

"Good evening, Naruto…what happened to your face?" the professor asked, concerned.

_"Oh, nothing,"_ the blond boy shrugged and nervously poked at his lower lip, which was swollen, slightly discolored, and bore a fresh-looking scab. _"Is my mom still at the lab? I've called home a couple of times and I just got the answering machine and Ebisu didn't want to tell me anything."_

"No, Naruto," Professor Sarutobi answered. "Your mother isn't here. I sent her to help a colleague of mine near Uzu Town…"


	3. Part III

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part III_

Kushina chewed at the inside of her cheek as she looked up the path that led to her old childhood home. She'd already checked over the local motels and discovered that one had gone out of business, another had no rooms available (which had surprised her), and the few that were left were of the extremely seedy, rent-by-the-hour sort. As she was an adult, staying in the Pokémon Center dorms was frowned upon for longer than a one-night emergency stay. So that left only one option…

_Ugh, might as well get this over with._

Steeling her nerves, she marched up the path through the sparse clumps of grass to the front door. The house looked rundown and in need of fresh paint. And it looked smaller than she remembered.

She stopped in front of the blue front door and knocked…

…And the person that she least wanted to see was on the other side. Her silver-threaded wavy brown hair was now iron gray with white streaks in it. Her humorless face was lined with more wrinkles than Kushina remembered and her freckles looked more like age spots. She was dressed in an informal blue and gray kimono and her cold brown eyes swept critically over the visitor standing on the doorstep.

"…Can I help you?" Asuka asked frostily.

"Hi Aunt Asuka," Kushina almost groaned. "Could you move so I can come in?"

The older woman gave her a second and much more intense visual inspection before her face grew even colder and darker in recognition.

"Oh, it's _you_," Asuka said, injecting icy derision into every syllable and turning the final word into a curse.

"I didn't come to argue," Kushina struggled not to growl. "I just need to crash in my old room for a while."

"That room belongs to Akane now," Asuka replied.

"Then I'll sleep on the couch's pull-out bed," Kushina said with a shrug. _Of course Akane has my room now—she was probably desperate to not have to share with her mom anymore…_

"Go elsewhere," Asuka demanded and started to close the door.

"This isn't your house," Kushina snapped, wedging her foot in the door to keep it open. "This is my father's house and he's the only one who can tell me to take a hike!"

"You've shamed this family enough," Asuka shot back. "Do us a favor and go back to the mainland before everyone else learns how much further you've fallen since your childhood defiance."

"You married into this family; you're not an Uzumaki at all!" Kushina snarled and braced her shoulder against the door.

"I may not be an Uzumaki by blood," Asuka retorted sharply. "But unlike you, I care about what remains of this family's reputation!"

Kushina was just about out of patience and she started to force the door open. "Why you—"

"What's going on here?"

The masculine voice startled Kushina so much that she almost lost her balance and fell. And when she turned to find out who had interrupted, she did a little double-take. She almost thought that it was her father, but then she realized that it was her oldest brother, Kenshin. He was a middle-aged man now instead of a teenager, with the start of crow's feet around his eyes and gray sprinkled in the hair over his temples. It made him look weird and old.

"…Kenshin-nii-san, Aunt Asuka's being mean!" Kushina complained.

Kenshin just stared at her in confusion without any hint of recognition. Her eyes started to sting a little as the silence stretched on. Her oldest brother, the one who'd taught her how to fish among other things, had no idea who she was.

"…Kushina?" he said hesitantly.

"Of course, what other woman would call you 'big brother'?" she sniffed.

"Your hair has gotten very long," Kenshin blinked.

"Yeah, I know." Kushina dropped her duffel bag on the stone steps to rub at her sore shoulder. "But Arashi already told you about that, didn't he?"

"Arashi ran into you?" her brother gaped. "When?"

"What do you mean 'when'? It wasn't even two months ago that I saw him in Cove Town," she informed him with a slight frown.

"He never said anything to me about seeing you anywhere," Kenshin said as he came a few steps closer.

"What the hell?" Kushina grumbled. _Why wouldn't he tell anybody about me when he got home?_ And then another thought struck her and she wheeled back to face her aunt who was still standing on the other side of the half-open door. "How did you get my phone number?"

"You sent it in one of your letters," Asuka replied with a sniff.

"What letters?" Kenshin asked. "I haven't seen anything from Kushina since her last postcard years and years ago."

"Where did you find them?" Kushina demanded.

"They were in a shoebox in your father's closet," the older woman answered.

Kushina clenched her teeth until her jaw started to ache. _Of course…_ "So Daddy's read them?"

"The envelopes were still sealed when I uncovered them." Asuka's line face tightened with disgust. "I'm very disappointed in what I found in those letters and I'm glad that Kenjiro never read them; he'd be so ashamed."

"Shut up!" Kushina snapped.

Anger burned through her veins. She was pissed off at Aunt Asuka for all the usual reasons plus the recent annoying phone calls. She was intensely irritated with Arashi for keeping their meeting to himself for whatever reason. And she was enraged and hurt that her father had hidden all of her letters from the rest of the family and had never read a single one.

It was all too much, so she abandoned her travel bag by the front door and stormed down the path and past Kenshin feeling like steam was pouring out of her ears.

"Where are you going?" Kenshin called after her.

"I'm taking a walk!" Kushina snapped back as she took the fork in the path that led down the sea cliffs to the beach. "Don't follow me!"

The trail down to the ocean was steep and it zigzagged as it descended to the shore. It was early evening so the tide was receding, slowly increasing the width of the beach. Unlike the soft golden sands of Jungle Country, the beach here was covered in rough gray rocks and some larger boulders. Right now the dreary place suited her ugly mood perfectly.

Kushina stalked over to her favorite flat-topped boulder and glowered out over the choppy waves. Almost directly in front of her crouched the gym that had been in her family since its founding and on clear, calm days she could sometimes make out the people standing on the tiny island. But right now it made a good target to shout at while the crashing surf drowned out her words.

_I should never have come back here,_ she fumed as she vented her fury at the uncaring ocean. _This was a mistake…_

* * *

><p>Kenjiro deeply inhaled the brisk salty air as sea spray stung his face. He stood with his legs braced apart for maximum balance as Tank, his blastoise, cut through the choppy water towards the shore. His watery commute between his gym and his home wasn't particularly long or scenic and it could be dangerous during poor weather, but he always enjoyed the ride.<p>

When Tank crawled onto the shore he stayed horizontal until Kenjiro hopped off the giant turtle's battle-scarred shell. He started straight for the trail up to the top of the cliff, but his blastoise hesitated. Kenjiro looked to see what had caught his oldest pokémon's eye and stiffened.

A woman was pacing along the beach just out of reach of the waves several yards away, and for a moment he saw his wife, Atsuko. But this woman's hair was the wrong color—red instead of black—and when she paced back in his direction he could see that the eyes weren't quite the same either. And the clothing that she was wearing—jean pants and a zip-up hooded sweatshirt over a T-shirt—was not something that Atsuko would ever have worn. Still, there was something about her face, about her build, about the way that she moved, that reminded him so strongly of his dead wife that something twisted in his chest as he stared at her.

The red-haired woman was so lost in thought that she didn't see him until she was only a few feet away. She jumped back with a startled squawk when she did see him and almost fell down when she stumbled on some loose rock. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she studied him and then she spoke.

"Daddy, you look so _old_!"

Kenjiro sucked in a sharp breath as her odd resemblance to Atsuko suddenly made perfect sense. Behind him Tank made a startled noise. And then for several minutes after that, the only sound was the growl of the surf on the beach.

"…Didn't you swear that you would never come back here again?" Kenjiro finally said.

"I meant that I'd never move back in again," his daughter retorted. "And I'm not. I just want to crash on the couch bed for a while. Unless, of course, you back Aunt Asuka _again_ and tell me to go elsewhere."

He eyed his errant child closely, his mouth set in a thin line. He'd always tried to do right by his daughter, but all she'd given him in return was defiance and headaches. Her rebellion at the start of her pokémon journey and the mocking postcards that he couldn't hide had led some of his neighbors to jeer at him for being unable to properly control one little girl. And he was sure that most of the rest of the town whispered about his failure behind his back.

_The way that she is, is all my fault,_ he knew. _If Atsuko had lived, Kushina would never have turned out this way. But I was the only parent and I found myself raising her as a son. By the time that Asuka moved in with Akane to be strong female role models for her, it was too late to undo the damage that I had done with my ignorance…_

"You can have your old room back," Kenjiro grunted.

"No, thank you," Kushina grimaced. "That's Akane's room now. I'm sure that it's been painted bright pink, it smells like perfume, and the bed is covered with ruffles and lace. I'll take the pull-out bed in the couch."

"That's no place for a woman to sleep," Kenjiro argued.

His daughter's face turned thunderous. "I'm sleeping on the couch bed or I'm going to one of the dockside motels."

Kenjiro wanted to curse at her. The few dockside motels were used almost exclusively by sailors and fishermen to meet with whores or mistresses. If Kushina went and stayed there, there was a good chance that men would start propositioning her, thinking that she was for sale.

"_Fine!_" he snapped. "Take the couch, then! I only thought to offer you some privacy."

"I'd only need a private room if I slept naked," Kushina snorted and walked around him to the foot of the trail. "And I don't do that."

Kenjiro ground his teeth as he put Tank back in his sphere and trudged after his youngest child back up to the house.

_This girl is going to ruin my blood pressure!_

* * *

><p>When Kushina reached the top of the trail where the ground leveled out, she was ambushed.<p>

"Cousin Kushina!" Akane squealed, clasping manicured nails over her chest. "You're alive!"

Her cousin looked much like Kushina had expected her to. Akane was no longer a gorgeous teenager, but a beautiful woman with bright green eyes and her wavy red-brown hair was carefully braided into an intricate bun held stable by lacquered hair sticks. She was dressed in an informal kimono, much like her mother, except that hers was more brightly colored and the outer layer was decorated with a butterfly pattern. With her delicate features carefully enhanced by make-up, she looked almost like some kind of princess or noblewoman from an older age.

Kushina felt plain and ordinary standing next to her.

"Of course I'm alive," Kushina snorted. "Who told you that I was dead?"

"Well, your pretty postcards stopped coming and you didn't come back so something bad must've happened to you," Akane replied. "So what _did_ happen? Were you kidnapped? Did you get thrown in jail for committing some crime? Were you shipwrecked on some remote island down in the tropics? Did—"

"Nothing like that happened," Kushina sighed. "I moved into a house and started sending letters instead."

Akane cocked her head like a confused puppy. "What letters?"

"Letters I sent that Daddy thought belonged in the bottom of is closet," Kushina grumbled. "You'd think he'd be curious about how I was doing, but he never read them," she added acidly. _I worked hard on those letters, and the first few were really important, but he didn't care!_

"Your postcards were bad enough," her father grunted as he reached the top of the trail. "Every time one arrived the entire town would be gossiping about it within hours. Pardon me for being tired of having little old ladies scold me for raising a daughter that would send such rude messages home."

"The gossip did get nasty," Akane agreed. "Mother would come home so angry and embarrassed sometimes because the neighbors would be joking about how you thought you were a boy, Kushina."

"Whatever," Kushina growled, too pissed off to think of a longer response, and stalked back to the house.

People had always laughed at her childhood ambition of becoming a well-traveled pokémon trainer. Girls kept pokémon as pets or trained them for Contests; they didn't specialize in battling and they didn't go far from home by themselves. They told her that she couldn't do what the boys did and that she should give it up.

But she'd stuck to her dream and struck out on her own. She outdid the boys by traveling farther from _Uzu no Kuni_ than most of them and never once called home begging for money or help. And instead of being proud of her and impressed by her accomplishments, her family was ashamed and everyone else treated her like a freak.

_I hate this place so much!_

Just outside of the front door her twin brothers, Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora, had arrived and were talking with Kenshin. They, too, looked strange to her now that they were all grown up and no longer gawky teenagers. But they were still identical and she couldn't even begin to guess which carrot-topped man was which—they even appeared to have the same scar over their right eyes!

"So our baby sister is back in town?" one asked Kenshin.

"For real?" the other added. "No joke?"

"No joke," Kenshin replied gravely and pointed over their shoulders. "She's right there."

They turned, blinked, and their jaws dropped in eerie twin unison.

_"No way!"_

"You guys are still kind of creepy when you do that," Kushina complained.

_"Do what?"_ they asked at the same time.

"Use your weird twin powers," she said with a little frown. "And how is it that there's still no way to tell you two apart? Do you conspire to get the same scars?"

"No, but that's a great idea!" one said enthusiastically.

"No, that's a terrible idea!" the other snorted.

They paused and locked eyes with each other as if angry that they hadn't had the same opinion. Kushina almost thought that they were going to start one of their strange but rare arguments. But instead their slight scowls morphed into boyish grins through some silent exchange and they turned back towards her.

_"Kushina!"_

And then they latched onto her, sandwiching her in-between them.

_"We missed you!"_

"Why did you stop sending postcards?" one complained.

"Some of those pictures were really cool, even if your messages were a little snotty," the other grinned.

"Not all of my postcards were snotty," Kushina protested as she tried to wiggle free.

"Yeah, only most of them were," the first one teased.

"Your hair's so long!" the other remarked in amazement. "When did it get so long?"

"When I stopped getting it cut so short," she sighed. "C'mon Tora-Tora, let me go!"

"No!" the second one refused.

"You'll disappear if we do," the first one said.

"No I won't," Kushina snorted. "I'll be around for at least a few weeks."

_"Only a few weeks?"_ they nearly pouted.

"There's nothing stopping either of you from coming to visit me at my house if you really want to," she told them and finally managed to slip free of them.

"But we don't know where you live," one of the twins complained.

"Well, you just need to—"

"And where have you been?" Kenjiro demanded and Kushina was momentarily baffled, thinking that he was talking to her.

But when she turned to look, she found that he was staring down Arashi, who was trudging up towards the house. Her youngest older brother had a sullen expression on his face and an odd fiery glint in his dark eyes. Everyone radiated tension and Kushina felt lost as to what the big deal was.

"Well?" Kenjiro demanded when Arashi still hadn't answered.

"I've been around," Arashi grumbled. "Is it a crime to go for a walk?"

"And what were you doing on this walk?" Kenshin asked his youngest brother.

"Nothing," Arashi insisted.

_Well, whatever's going on, I've got my own bone to pick with him,_ Kushina decided and used Kenshin and her father as cover to sneak around to Arashi's side without him noticing.

"Hey Arashi!" she cried with a grin and latched onto his arm. "Tell me, how come you didn't tell anyone that you saw me in Cove Town?"

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Arashi sputtered, staring at her wide-eyed.

"You were in Cove Town?" Akane asked. "Ah, we could've met for lunch!"

"I'm going to be working for Professor Utatane for a while," Kushina answered. "So how come you didn't tell anyone about seeing me? Did you not want to admit that you didn't recognize me and that you flirted with me?"

"You did what?" Kenshin hissed.

_"Ew!"_ Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora gagged.

"If I had had any inkling that I'd been talking to you, I never would've done it!" Arashi snapped. "And Aunt Asuka knows—"

"You told _Aunt Asuka_ and no one else?" Kushina growled and tightened her grip on his arm. _You told the one person that I really didn't want you to tell? __**Really**__?_

"I only told her about seeing you and the letters!" Arashi sputtered. "Be grateful that I didn't mention that you're supposedly engaged."

_"What?"_ Kenshin, Ichi-Tora, Ni-Tora, their father, and Akane cried.

"You're engaged?" Akane sniffled. "I…I don't even have a boyfriend anymore. I'm going to die a spinster!"

"Who is this guy?" one of the twins demanded.

"Let us at him!" the other glared.

"Are you sure that you're making the right decision?" Kenshin worried. "This isn't something you should choose to do impulsively."

Her father didn't say anything but the look on his face was clearly angry and dangerous.

"You jerk!" Kushina whispered harshly and ducked behind Arashi, turning him into a human shield. "Look what you did!"

Before anymore questions or demands could be thrown at her, Asuka stepped out of the house and clapped her hands.

"Dinner is nearly ready!" Asuka announced. "Everyone come inside."

"Mom!" Akane wailed. "Arashi says that Kushina says that she's engaged!"

"Oh?" An expression that might've been approval briefly touched Asuka's stern face. "Good. Hopefully that will legitimize that little boy of hers."

The silence that followed that sentence was deafeningly loud.

"…What?" Arashi blinked and looked over his shoulder at Kushina. "You…had…a…a _baby_?"

"Um…a while ago, yeah," Kushina muttered. She swallowed and gathered her last shreds of bravado. "You'd know that already if my letters had actually been read instead of gathering dust in a closet."

Arashi and the Tora-Tora twins just gaped at her. Akane looked distraught. Kenshin's face was unreadable. Asuka just shook her head and went back inside the house to make sure that dinner didn't burn. And her father gave her a look that she couldn't accurately describe, but it made her want to melt into the ground.

_Coming back here was a really, __**really**__ big mistake…and when I get back home I'm going to kill Professor Sarutobi!_


	4. Part IV

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part IV_

Kushina never imagined that she would feel so relieved to be in Professor Utatane's lab. Dinner the previous evening had been an utter nightmare. The tension in the room had made her want to puke and she'd had little time to choke down her food between fending off countless questions. They wanted to know everything about Naruto, Naruto's father, and the man that she was going to marry.

She tried to just tell them about Naruto, since the man in her life seemed a much more inflammatory subject. It bothered her a little bit to learn that only one of her brothers was also a parent, and that Naruto only had one cousin. It didn't seem quite right that the oldest and the youngest of the family were the only ones that had become parents while the middle siblings just sort of…languished as eternal childless bachelors.

But less than halfway through the meal, one thing became abundantly clear to Kushina. Aunt Asuka hadn't so much read the letters as skimmed over them, picking up a few key points that she used to invent an even more scandalous story than what had actually happened. Her aunt seemed convinced that Kushina had slept around instead of sticking with only one man, and she also believed that Naruto's father had abandoned her upon learning that she was pregnant when it was the other way around. When Kushina tried to correct these misconceptions, her aunt had responded with skepticism.

_I hate her so much! Why the heck would I lie about what happened? If I was going to lie, I would've just told her that I got married __**before**__ I got knocked up, and that I'm still married right now!_

She shook her head angrily, tossed her damp braid over her shoulder, and settled back in her chair as she waited for Koharu to bring her a cup of tea.

After dinner, she'd spent the rest of the evening sitting outside and avoiding everyone while she tried to relax. She only came back inside when everyone was getting into bed, and she forced herself up early to get out of the house as soon as possible. Her father and Kenshin were natural early risers so she didn't beat them, but she was able to get a shower in and eat a quick breakfast just before her aunt had gotten up to make a big meal for everyone else.

"So how was your evening?" the old woman professor asked as she entered the little conference room with two steaming cups of sweet tea.

"Awful," Kushina moaned and gratefully accepted the warm drink. "I'm so mad that the good hotel didn't have any rooms for rent."

"I figured that it would be," Koharu sniffed. "I don't know all the reasons that your family has to be displeased with you, and I'd rather not know, but there is one that directly involves me. Do you realize that I would've probably lost my job if your father hadn't turned a blind eye to those signatures of his that you forged on your license application?"

Kushina cringed into her seat and gulped nervously. As a child she'd felt so clever that she'd gotten one over on her father and gotten her license after she'd overheard him talking with her aunt about shipping her off to some girl's school to break her of her tomboy ways. But not long after she'd moved into the house on Lake End it had slowly occurred to her that if her father hadn't _allowed_ her get away with it he could've had her license voided and gotten the police to drag her kicking and screaming back to Uzu up until her eighteenth birthday.

"I'm sorry," the red-head mumbled sheepishly. "I was a stupid child."

"Well, it's all in the past now, I suppose," Professor Utatane sighed and sipped at her tea. "And the work you'll be doing for me should make us even."

"Thank you," Kushina swallowed. She swirled her tea in her cup and thought for a minute. "…Do you know why all the good rooms are reserved? The nicer places are never more than half-full at best."

"I've heard some rumors that a bunch of foreigners will be in town in a few days for some sort of special event." The woman professor shook her head slightly. "I haven't caught any details. I'm more interested in rumors about unusual pokémon."

"Right." Kushina drained most of her tea in one gulp. "So is there any place in particular that you want me to search first?"

"I have a few places in mind," Koharu nodded.

The older woman stood with her cup of tea and beckoned for Kushina to follow. The professor brought her a few doors down the hall to another room that contained several large maps of _Uzu no Kuni_ tacked to the walls. Koharu showed her one map in particular which featured Central Uzu Island and indicated a selection of colored pins stuck into various locations.

"This is the beach where I found the broken crate, eggshells, and the mystery egg," she said as she tapped a black pin. "And these," she brushed her fingertips over a swath of yellow pins that dotted a section of ocean between Central Uzu and East Uzu, "are the approximate locations where fishermen and sailors have claimed to see pokémon that they can't identify. So these two areas should be checked first, and after that you should spiral out from them until you've checked the whole coastline of Central Uzu."

"Looks like I'll need some camping gear," Kushina mused as she started planning out possible routes based on the highlighted areas.

"You don't have to search continuously; you can break your time out in the field up however you choose…so long as you are _thorough_," Koharu instructed. "Depending on what you decide to do, you can still be in town when whatever this special event is happens and you can avoid camping out until you get to the far side of the island."

"Okay," the red-head nodded and tossed back the last of her tea. "So if I find any unusual pokémon, I should catch them?"

"Yes," the professor nodded. "I'll provide you with some ball capsules to use and I'll add a little programming to your pokédex so that it will alert you when a non-local species turns up, just in case you've forgotten what's common around here."

Kushina raised an eyebrow. "I can't use my own pokéballs?"

"The pokémon that you'll be catching for me will be specimens for study," Koharu said. "If you get me more specimens than I need, or if I finish studying them while you're still here, I _might_ allow you to take one or two of them with you."

"Got it," Kushina nodded sharply.

"Good," Koharu smiled faintly. "Now let's get you properly equipped…"

* * *

><p>Naruto scrubbed sleep from his eyes and poured a little milk carton into his bowl of cereal as he sat in the little cafeteria in the Pokémon Center outside of the Safari Zone. He didn't feel quite awake yet and would've preferred to still be in bed. But Ken-Ichi had woken him up and sent him to get breakfast.<p>

_"If you want to come to Whirlpool Country with me, get up now so that we can leave."_

The blond boy yawned and spooned cereal into his mouth on autopilot. His chin was still a bit sore and the scab pulled at his lip but he figured that it would be mostly healed by the time he caught up with his mother. He didn't want her to get distracted from answering his questions by fussing over his minor injury.

He was about halfway through his bowl when someone joined him at his little table. Hinata nervously slipped into the seat across from him with a large blueberry muffin and a juice box. She plucked at the wax paper wrapper of the muffin, but didn't say anything to him.

"Good morning, Hinata," Naruto greeted sleepily. "What's up?"

"G-good m-morning," Hinata stammered. "I-I just…I w-wanted to ask…I know it's n-none of my b-business, but…"

"What do you want to know?" he asked wearily.

"…I…I-was-just-wondering-why-you-were-so-upset-back-in-Konoha-Town," she gasped out in a rush, running her words together into something barely comprehensible.

It took a few moments for Naruto's fuzzy brain to break down what exactly she'd said. Hinata took his silence as a sign of offense and immediately started babbling apologies, saying that he didn't have to answer and repeating that it was none of her business. Naruto was a little amazed since this was the most she'd ever said to him at one time, but eventually she stopped herself with an embarrassed flush.

"Well…" Naruto traced his index finger along the swirls in the wood grain of the table. "…Didn't Sakura tell you?"

The Hyuuga girl shook her head mutely.

"Oh…" _Crap._ "Well…Shadow died," he muttered and stirred at the soggy dregs of his cereal.

Hinata paled and brought her hands to her mouth in shock. Naruto shoved his bowl away as what was left of his appetite abandoned him. They sat trapped in an uncomfortable silence until Naruto tried to move on to a new subject.

"Thanks for the card," he mumbled. "I meant to say that earlier, but you'd already left town, so…"

"You're welcome," Hinata responded automatically. She chewed on her lower lip before hazarding another question. "Who…who w-was that that answered the door at your house?"

"My dad," Naruto answered, running his fingertips over the whisker-like scars on his right cheek.

"Your…your _father_?" Hinata gazed at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah," he nodded.

It seemed to take a moment for her to process this information. "…So, your mother is marrying your father?"

"Yep," Naruto said after a moment's hesitation. _Hinata's not Ino; she won't pester me with a million questions and then run around and tell everybody about it._

Hinata took a bite of her muffin and fiddled with the straw of her juice box while she chewed. "Are…are you happy that y-your mother is m-marrying your father?"

"It's fine," Naruto said with a shrug. "Mom's real happy about it."

"But…" Hinata trailed off, looking concerned.

"Are you done talking with your girlfriend?"

Hinata made a choking squeaking sound and turned an impressive shade of red.

Naruto blinked and turned around to find Ken-Ichi watching him. "Huh?" _Girlfriend? What girlfriend?_

"Well?" Ken-Ichi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My girlfriend?" Naruto repeated stupidly. "Hinata?"

The Hyuuga girl squeaked again and sank lower in her chair.

Ken-Ichi nodded. "Yeah, you done talking to her, or can we get going?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm done," Naruto replied slowly. "But Hinata's not my—"

"Let's get going then!" his cousin said, slapping him on the shoulder. "We've got a long way to go."

"Um, bye," he waved to Hinata and stumbled away from the table, almost tripping over his bag in his haste to sling it over his shoulder and throw away the remains of his breakfast.

"Bye," Hinata replied softly.

"What's the rush?" Naruto complained as Ken-Ichi strode towards the main doors of the Pokémon Center.

"Katsuro and Hayato left yesterday, and if they get home way before I do my mom will freak out," Ken-Ichi sighed.

"How old are you?" Naruto frowned.

"Seventeen," Ken-Ichi said almost bitterly. "But my mom seems convinced that I'm still _seven_. She practically threw a fit when told her my plans to visit this place and she insisted that I travel with a group. That's the only reason that I was here with those two at all. Those two jerks were the only ones that I could persuade to come with me."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Oh."

They left the Pokémon Center and followed the main dirt road out of the clump of small businesses and into the grasslands beyond. But just as they reached the start of the tall grass, Naruto noticed that they were being followed. Sasuke and Sakura hurried along behind them, all packed and ready to go.

"What are you guys doing?" Naruto wondered.

"Going with you," Sasuke replied sourly. "What does it look like?"

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "But…why?"

"I've never heard of _Uzu no Kuni_ before so I figured that I'd check it out," Sasuke grumbled.

"Really?" Naruto frowned. _I don't think that I believe you._

Sakura hesitated before leaning close to the blond boy and whispered in his ear. "I think Obito black-mailed him."

"Ah," Naruto nodded. _Now that makes more sense._

"You're coming, too?" Ken-Ichi asked. When they nodded, he grimaced slightly. "Alright then, follow me…"

* * *

><p>Kushina strolled back to her father's house to get a few things from her bag before striking out on her first search. Because she'd mostly be traveling by water on pokémon-back she would need a dry change of clothes, towels, and her bathing suit inside a waterproof bag in case she fell in or needed to swim on her own. And while she was there she could ask her brothers if they'd seen any pokémon that they were unfamiliar with around.<p>

_I should probably visit the shrine with some food before I put out to sea,_ she thought as she followed the familiar path to the front door. _Hopefully Kyuumaru won't mistake me for some vandal or thief. It's been so long since he's seen me—_

Just as Kushina reached the front door it swung open to reveal a woman that she was unfamiliar with. She wore a more modern style of dress instead of a kimono or a yukata and there was no belt, bag, or any place designed to hold pokéballs, indicating that she was no trainer. The strange woman had ink-black hair pulled back in a severe braid, blue-gray eyes, and a face that was probably very pretty when she smiled. Right now her face was tight with anger and her eyes flashed dangerously when she saw Kushina standing in her way.

"And who the hell are you?" the strange woman demanded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Kushina frowned.

The stranger narrowed her eyes and almost snarled. "Are you Kenshin's new girlfriend?"

"What?" Kushina choked. "Ew, no! He's my brother!"

The unknown woman didn't seem to know how to react to that answer or if she should believe it, so she just slipped past Kushina and stormed down the path back to Uzu Town. Kushina watched her go, utterly confused, before stepping inside and closing the door behind her. Kenshin was sitting on the living room couch (which had been folded back up after she'd slept on it) and she almost asked him about the visitor, but the look of restrained fury on his face stopped her short.

Kenshin was the calmest and most level-headed of her brothers. It took a lot to get him angry. If she asked him what was wrong, he'd probably lose his hold on his rage, so she bypassed him and found the Tora-Tora twins in the kitchen drinking coffee.

"Who was that that just left?" Kushina asked them.

_"Suzume,"_ they answered simultaneously in hushed voices.

"The bitch," one added.

"Kenshin's ex-wife," the other said.

"Oh," Kushina nodded in sudden understanding. _It all makes sense now…_ "How'd she get to be his wife in the first place?"

"It was an accident," the first one said. "They were dating—"

"—And he forgot to use…well, you know…and knocked her up," the other continued.

"Suzume and her mother and Aunt Asuka all got on Kenshin's back about marrying her so that the baby wasn't born a bastard," the first continued.

"So he went along with it," the other one sighed. "But he shouldn't have…"

The identical twins shook their heads in perfect sorrowful unison and started passing the narrative back and forth without missing a beat.

"She had all these crazy ideas about how much money he made—"

"—She thought that she should come first before any of the rest of us—"

"—She fought with him all of the time and pulled all kinds of manipulative tricks on him—"

"—And after about five years he couldn't take it anymore and he divorced her—"

"—Even though Aunt Asuka was totally against it and kept trying to get them back together—"

"—And it really messed Ken-Ichi up for a while, poor kid—"

_"—It was all just a huge mess!"_ they finished together with another sad headshake.

"I hate it when you play verbal ping-pong," Kushina grumbled. "So if they got divorced a while ago, why was she just here?"

"They have a kid together," one shrugged.

"And because she hasn't remarried, Kenshin has to pay her alimony," the other grimaced.

"Ugh." Kushina made a face. "Hopefully I won't see too much of her." She half-sat on the kitchen table and gave the pair of them a firm look. "Now, I've got a little job for you two."

They tilted their heads in curiosity. _"Oh?"_

"Professor Utatane's heard stories about unusual pokémon in the area and she wants to know more," Kushina told them. "I'm going to go out looking to see what I can find, and I want you to listen to see if you can hear any fresh rumors on the subject. Okay?"

"But the old lady is always chasing rumors of weird pokémon!" one complained.

"And most of them are wild goose chases!" the other whined.

"Is it really so hard to pass her the one kind of gossip that she cares about?" Kushina sniffed. "My job is much harder, I actually have to go out and do things! You can just go down to town and listen, maybe ask a few questions."

"We'll be busy!" one argued.

"We need to help Dad set up bleachers and stuff," the other agreed.

Kushina frowned. "Bleachers? What bleachers?"

"In the gym," one said. "There will be an exhibition match there soon."

"Dad sold out," the other muttered. "Some foreign trainer is coming to fight him and TV cameras will record it."

"We need the money," the first one explained. "Otherwise Dad would never have done it."

"Who is Daddy going to fight?" Kushina asked. "What country is he from?"

_"No idea,"_ they shrugged.

"Does it really matter?" one snorted.

"Dad's getting paid big bucks to do it so we can afford some repairs to the gym," the other said. "Who cares who he's going to fight?"

"Well, I'm curious," Kushina pouted slightly. _Hopefully it won't be Minato. That would be awful!_

"Ask Kenshin," one of them suggested. "He probably knows."

Kushina edged out of the kitchen and peeked back into the living room. Seeing that Kenshin's demeanor hadn't changed one bit she decided not to bother him. She could always ask her oldest brother later when it didn't look like he wanted to kill someone.

She quietly put together her small travel bag and then filched some leftovers from the fridge. With what she needed in hand she crept out of the house, wary of disturbing her steaming brother or running into her dreaded Aunt Asuka. But once she was safely outside she headed inland instead of out to the coast.

_Time to feed Kyuumaru!_

* * *

><p>Shun Kurohi did some stretches and shook out his limbs before hopping off his uncle's porch and ambling away to the edge of town. He'd been born on South Uzu but had moved to Uzu Town on Central Uzu a few years back to work for his uncle. No longer a roving trainer he ran errands and sometimes tended the bar in his uncle's pub.<p>

So far as he could tell, all of the odd jobs he'd done for his uncle had been legitimate. He was quite sure that his uncle also had his hands in some illegal businesses. Shun wasn't all the comfortable with his family's extra-legal activities, but as long as they didn't force him into joining them he wasn't about to complain.

When he reached the rocky hills outside of town he pulled an ultra-ball from his pocket and released a shark-like gabite to walk alongside him. He wasn't really an active trainer any more, but he still liked to keep his skills sharp and his monsters in shape. And if he kept at it, hopefully his little Sharky would evolve into a garchomp while he was still young enough to appreciate it.

"Dad always complained that I was a fool for traveling all the way to the Land of Earth to catch you," he said to the ground dragon as he stroked her un-notched dorsal fin. "It's too bad that he doesn't see the potential in you that I do."

His clan regarded salamence as the ultimate dragon. It was as powerful as a dragonite and much fiercer. Garchomp was said to be the equal of salamence in terms of aggressiveness, but his family turned up their collective noses at it. It didn't look much like a dragon, it couldn't truly fly, and while it was immune to electricity, they thought that the dragon's ground element made it weak to water and grass—types that dragons like a salamence laughed at. His relatives either forgot or willfully ignored that garchomp's dragon nature reduced most of the weaknesses that came with its secondary ground-type.

"Someday my baby cousins will be begging me for your eggs," Shun declared. "But until then, let's build up your strength some more…"

He oriented himself towards his favorite training area…and paused when he caught sight of a figure hiking towards one of the tallest hills in the area.

"Huh, that looks like the pretty woman from the ferry," he said to himself.

She claimed to be engaged, but it was hard for him to believe that any man would let her travel to a foreign country all alone. The woman possessed an almost subtle beauty that was bound to eventually attract the wrong sort of attention from the sort of men that wouldn't care if she was engaged or married. Without her man to look after her, she could get into some serious trouble…

_With red hair like that, I'd almost say that she's an Uzumaki,_ he thought. _But that's ridiculous. All Uzumakis live on one of the five islands of Whirlpool Country and I know that I saw her arrive on South Uzu Island on a mainland ferry._

"It almost looks like she's headed to the Sealed Shrine," he remarked to his dragon-shark. "I hope that she doesn't stumble over that place. It's not really a tourist spot…and that beast might mistake her for a trespasser."


	5. Part V

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part V_

The Sealed Shrine probably wasn't the structure's true name, but whatever its builders had called it was long lost to time. It was the oldest thing in _Uzu no Kuni_ just behind the caves that were carved into the islands' bedrock by nature. But not very much was known about it since few people had studied it and no foreign researchers knew where it was.

The shrine was ringed by a circle of eight stone half-spheres, most of which were still intact, that were decorated with mysterious symbols that were thought to be magical seals. At the center of this circle was the shrine itself. It was a stone building little larger than a tool shack that had been built over top of a natural tunnel that dead-ended in an underground lake.

Spirals and spiral-like designs covered every inch of the shrine. Swirls were carved along the edges of the shrine roof, whirls were etched on the square doorframe, and flagstones were set in the ground spiraling out from the building to the outer ring of boulders. And some of the interior walls of the stone building were downright hypnotic if one looked at them for too long.

Old stories claimed that in ancient times people would worship a guardian spirit or spirits at the site. Ordinary people would bring offerings of food and incense to place outside of the shrine, and in times of great danger priests would travel down to the underground lake to appeal to the guardian or guardians more directly. But whatever worship or rituals that had taken place at the shrine had ended long before any of the oldest written records so it was impossible to judge if there was any truth to the tales.

The structure had nearly collapsed several centuries ago until Kushina's ancestor, Mito Uzumaki, had stepped in. Mito had raised funds and local interest to restore the shrine in her later years and studied it as a hobby until her death. It was one of the things she was most known for, and it had probably been played up so that the fact that she trained pokémon for battle instead of for show was overlooked.

Kushina had visited the site of the shrine fairly often as a child. It was quiet there and most citizens of Uzu Town didn't bother hiking out to it, and those that did usually only did so on special occasions or holidays. The land wasn't owned by anyone, but because of Mito's intervention it was regarded as an Uzumaki clan possession. And then there was what Mito had left behind…

The red-head grinned as she reached the top of the hill and the shrine came into view. The area outside the stone ring was overgrown with dense bushes and ancient stunted trees, which provided plenty of places to hide. So she wasn't the least bit surprised to not see Kyuumaru anywhere.

"Good morning, Kyuumaru," she greeted, stopping just outside of the boundary formed by the half-sphere rocks. "I've been gone for a long time so I'm sure that you don't remember me, but I'm Kushina Uzumaki and I've brought you some food." She bowed. "Please accept my gifts."

With that little formality out of the way, she cautiously set foot on the shrine grounds. She slowly walked up to the shrine's south-facing door and knelt just shy of the doorway. After arranging the leftovers she'd brought from the house and taking a moment to pray to whatever spirits were around to listen for some good luck on this visit, she stood up and turned to leave—

_"Gah!"_

Kushina tensed at the unexpected scream and then took off running towards it. Locals knew better than to come to the shrine unless they were going to be respectful to the site and Kyuumaru. But maybe someone hadn't gotten around to warning a young adventurous child or some visitor from another of the islands and Kyuumaru had mistaken them for a dangerous intruder.

She scrambled down the winding trail and the brush thinned out as she moved down the hill—

_"Sharky, no, wait!"_

With a final burst of speed she dashed past a scraggly pine with a twisted trunk and saw the Kurohi she'd encountered on the ferry. There was a shark-like gabite with him that had just halted a charge at another pokémon. And that other pokémon…

Kyuumaru crouched up-slope of them in a full threat display. His pale golden fur bristled, nearly obscuring the red-and-white-striped rope tied around his neck, and his sharp little teeth were bared in a vicious snarl. Nine bushy tails lashed behind him—solid yellow and lacking the orange tips normally characteristic of his kind—and his red eyes blazed. He snorted and a few tiny embers sprayed from his nostrils.

"Sharky, back up," Shun commanded. "We don't want to fight this one."

The gabite hesitated and snarled a protest back at its master. Kyuumaru didn't like what he heard and smoke started to leak from his nostrils and between the gaps in his teeth. Kushina inhaled sharply and stepped off the trail to intercept.

"Sharky," Shun hissed. "We need to back off—"

Kyuumaru was apparently tired of warning them and let loose a _roar_ that drove the gabite back into its ball. Shun paled and stumbled backwards, tripping on a rock and almost falling. With a sharp bark Kyuumaru charged—

"Kyuumaru!" Kushina yelled. "That's enough!"

The ninetales stiffened and turned his glaring ruby eyes on her.

"He's leaving, I'll make sure of it," Kushina promised. "I've left you some food. Please accept it."

For a long minute she feared that Kyuumaru wouldn't listen to her and attack the stupid Kurohi. But then, slowly, his fur smoothed down and his lashing tails stilled. Now that he wasn't so agitated she could see that he was scruffy and the rope looped around his neck was dirty and frayed.

_Akane really did give up on him,_ she thought with a mental frown. _The poor fox looks like he hasn't been brushed properly in months. And he needs a new rope, too._

He gave her a hard look before vanishing up the hill like a ghost.

Kushina sighed and stalked over to Shun, grabbed him by the collar of his coat, and started dragging him down the hill.

"You idiot!" she hissed. "Kyuumaru could've set you on fire! What were you thinking?"

"I saw you walking this way and I was worried," the Kurohi sputtered. "I was sure that you were a mainlander—that you wouldn't know about the ninetales… How do you know its name?"

"I was born on this island," Kushina informed him. "And I know all about Kyuumaru—like how to safely approach the Sealed Shrine without pissing him off. What's your excuse for not knowing?"

"I was born on South Uzu," Shun answered, peeling her fingers off his jacket collar. "I only know not to come up here."

"Good, that's all most people need to know," she remarked.

He jogged after her silently before voicing a question. "If I wanted to visit the shrine, how would I approach safely?"

"Stick to the paths at all times, keep all pokémon confined or leave them at home, bring food for Kyuumaru, do not enter the stone circle until you have stated your intentions to Kyuumaru, and be respectful," Kushina listed. "But, really, you just shouldn't come. He doesn't like strangers and I don't feel like doing formal introductions."

"…You know, I didn't catch your name before," he said.

"I know," Kushina replied as she stepped onto the path that would lead her to the nearest beach.

"So…what _is_ your name?" Shun asked.

"Kushina Uzumaki," she reluctantly answered.

"Your red hair made me think of that family," he nodded.

"Yeah, can you quit following me now?" she grumbled.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you're so interesting," Shun chuckled weakly with embarrassment. "Where are you off to now?"

"The sea," she told him. "I have work to do."

"You work?" he blurted out in surprise.

Kushina stopped walking and glaring at him. "Yes, I work. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no, no it's fine," he hurriedly assured her. "It's just—aren't you engaged? Doesn't your man support you? You shouldn't need to work."

"I don't suppose I need to work anymore, but I _want_ to," she shrugged. "I'd get bored if I didn't have something to do outside of the house."

"Oh…"

He seemed rather flummoxed by her answer and Kushina took advantage of that by making her escape. Shun didn't follow her and she started to relax. The guy was decent for a Kurohi, but his thinking was just as old-fashioned as any male citizen of Whirlpool Country.

_I hope I don't run into him again anytime soon…but if I do, maybe I should steer him to Akane._

* * *

><p>Ken-Ichi sighed and dragged a hand over his face. He hadn't given much thought to his offer of leading his possible cousin to the Land of Whirlpools. And he hadn't thought much on the blond's two friends coming along, either.<p>

Now he was starting to regret it.

All three trainers were significantly younger than he was and all they seemed to do was argue. Naruto tried to fill the silence by relating stories of his adventures. Sasuke would scoff at him. Naruto would get offended and start yelling at Sasuke. Sakura would get annoyed with Naruto and yell at him to be quiet. Naruto would profess his innocence, but she wouldn't buy it. Blessed silence would fall for a little while…until Naruto shared more stories and the cycle would begin all over again.

"…and then I lost her," Naruto sighed. "It was so disappointing. She was Yukie Fujikaze, no doubt about it! I really wanted an autograph!"

"Sure she was," Sasuke grunted. "I bet she was just some woman who looks like her, and she kept running away from you because you freaked her out with your autograph requests."

"No, it was her!" Naruto protested. "I saw her in the park with some of her pokémon from her movies!"

"I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there with the same pokémon as her," Sakura reasoned. "Sasuke-kun is probably right. You just stalked some ordinary woman."

"I did not!" the blond boy whined.

"How about we stop for lunch?" Ken-Ichi suggested. "The next town is just around the bend." _Maybe they'll be quiet after they fill their stomachs._

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "Let's get ramen!"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"Let's get something healthier," Sakura argued.

"Ramen's healthy," Naruto insisted.

The pink-haired girl wrinkled her nose. "No it's not."

"Yeah it is, I eat it all the time and I'm perfectly healthy," Naruto declared.

"What about some place that serves salads?" the girl asked.

"Ew!" Naruto gagged. "Vegetables are disgusting!"

"They're good for you," Sakura informed him. "Vegetables contain all kinds of vitamins and fiber—"

"No way, no vegetables!" the blond boy declared.

"You'll stay short forever, then," Sasuke muttered with a shrug. "I want something with tomatoes in it."

"Salads have tomatoes in them," Sakura said brightly.

"Gah!" Naruto wailed. "Nooo~!"

Ken-Ichi swallowed another sigh and rubbed at his forehead as he felt a headache coming on.

_Why me?_

* * *

><p>Kushina sat perched just behind Tsunami's head as her gyarados plowed through the ocean swells. She'd put her bathing suit on underneath her clothes in case she ended up in the water, but the water was cold and the currents were strong and unpredictable in places so she hoped that getting wet wouldn't be necessary. The GPS device that Professor Utatane had lent her, which was both waterproof and buoyant so that it floated if dropped instead of sinking, kept her oriented towards her goal.<p>

The beach where the professor had found the egg and broken shells was one of the more remote ones, accessible only by the sea and a narrow treacherous road that partially disappeared at high tide. She was a little surprised that the old woman had visited the place, and it was pure luck that she'd arrived in time to save the one unbroken egg. If she had arrived even a few hours later the waves could've crushed it or the cold water could've drowned it.

_I wonder what kind of pokémon lays black eggs…_

Tsunami cut across the fringes of a small whirlpool and slipped around a rocky point into a C-shaped depression in the sea cliffs. It was high tide so most of the beach was covered by water, but the few high-and-dry spots were the places that she was most interested in. With a little instruction Kushina's gyarados head for what was left of the beach and lowered her armored head so that the red-head could easily dismount.

She picked her way over the beach carefully, peeking under every sizeable rock (of which there were many) for anything that Koharu might've missed. But aside from a few tiny eggshell fragments that she sealed in specimen jars and some wooden planks left from the destroyed crate, she didn't find anything. It was about what she'd expected to find so she wasn't terribly disappointed and she just moved on.

However, just as Tsunami surged back out into open water Kushina spied a fishing boat in the distance.

"Hey, let's go talk to them," she said. "Maybe they've seen something."

The boat was typical of most independent fishing vessels that based themselves in _Uzu no Kuni_. It was small, old, and equipped to be a generalist. There were metal and wire traps for crabs, nets for shrimp and small fish, and long lines for larger fish on board. Whatever was in season they could fish for it, and make just enough money to keep the boat running and the fishermen paid.

When Tsunami slithered over to pace alongside the slow-moving boat there was no one out on deck. A loud sharp whistle received no response. But when her gyarados bellowed, three fishermen tripped over themselves in their haste to appear.

"Good afternoon!" she called, fighting down a bit of laughter. "Permission to come aboard?"

The three men, all of them around the age of her father, gaped at her in shock. One of them eventually shook himself free of his surprise and scrambled up to the small pilot house where the captain presumably was. And shortly after that he returned with a fourth man, clearly the master of the ship.

The captain radiated authority and toughness as he almost strolled over the deck to the side of his ship. He was balding with a short grizzled beard and a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. She didn't know him personally but judging by the black horizontal tattoo that ran underneath his eyes and across the bridge of his nose he was part of the Kurokawa clan.

He gave her a long hard look before speaking. "What sort of foolishness is this?"

"What do you mean, Captain?" Kushina asked, projecting as much innocence as she could. "I just wanted to visit your boat so that I could ask if any of you had seen any weird exotic pokémon around. But…I guess I could just stay over here and ask you, too."

"'Weird exotic pokémon'?" he drawled and braced one forearm on the rail. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I've been hearing some rumors about mystery pokémon in the ocean," she said. "Pokémon that no one's ever seen before in these parts. I love rare pokémon and it would be so great if I could catch one!" she cried with starry eyes. "Have you or your crew seen anything, Captain?" she asked with a slight pout.

_Come on, I'm a silly simple girl. Take pity on my sad pretty face. Tell me something!_

"Hmm…" The captain plucked at his lip before making his decision. "Well, if you keep going down the coast you might—_might_—be able to find something around the Wingull Rocks. But be careful little girl. The currents are really strong around those islets; lots of whirlpools."

"I'll be careful," she beamed and patted her gyarados on the head. "Tsunami will take good care of me."

"I can't say that I've ever seen a girl with a gyarados before," the captain remarked.

"I like to be different," Kushina shrugged cheerfully and waved. "Thank you very much, Captain!"

"That would be Captain Kaito," he corrected, an expression similar to a smile cracking through his stern façade.

"Thank you Captain Kaito," Kushina waved again and urged Tsunami away from the boat. "Bye-bye!"

As soon as she was out of sight of the boat, Kushina relaxed with a sigh. She rarely enjoyed playing at being a flaky girly-girl, but it had seemed like the best course of action. If she'd been her usual self—blunt and a bit abrasive—they were less likely to tell her anything, and they might've gotten suspicious enough of her to warn their buddies. And if they had smuggling ties, and she seemed naïve enough and played up her cute feminine wiles, they might risk sharing a little inside information like…where some crew had lost a shipment of rare pokémon.

_Perhaps that's Professor Utatane's problem,_ she mused. _People know that she's smart and if they tell her things she'll put the pieces together and sniff out smugglers, even though that's a job for the police. But a shallow cute girl that hungers for rare pokémon is safer to talk to…_

"Well, you heard the captain," she said to Tsunami. "Let's hit the Wingull Rocks!"

The female gyarados bellowed and surged on ahead towards their new destination.

* * *

><p>Kenjiro shoved his hands into his pockets and surveyed the main battle pool at the heart of his gym. He and his sons had set up the old, rarely used bleachers on one side for the media and any spectators that turned up. The mural that depicted Mito-sama was now half-covered, but the mural of the founder of the Uzumaki would be in clear view of the audience and the cameras.<p>

"When was the last time that anyone used these things?" Arashi grunted as he tested the wooden planks to see if any of them needed repairs or replacement.

"My uncle would sometimes set them up for outdoor battles on the low side of the island," Kenjiro answered.

"It's been a long time since he was leader here," Kenshin remarked. "We're lucky these things didn't completely rot."

His twin sons, Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora, brought in some fresh wooden boards to replace several benches that had already been identified as bad. Their slowbro and slowking used their psychic powers to carefully levitate the planks through the gym and deposit them near the bleachers. Meanwhile Kenshin began directing his kabutops to cut out the bad wood with its scythe-like forearms.

"I wonder if this foreign trainer is going to show up early or not," Arashi said as he carefully paced along the higher benches.

"If he's smart he'll come early and scout the gym to maximize his chances of winning," Kenshin replied. "If he's arrogant, he'll turn up just in time or late and come in blind, trusting his monsters to make up for his lack of preparation."

Arashi smirked. "Anyone want to make a bet—"

_"No,"_ they all responded simultaneously.

"Okay, okay fine!" Arashi grumbled.

Kenjiro frowned at his youngest son. Arashi seemed incapable of taking his problem and his situation seriously. It was doubtful that the young man had any idea of how extensive his debts really were, and since he rarely made any payments on them it only got bigger and bigger. Kenjiro now dreaded the days when it came time to pay Arashi his salary for working in the gym because he knew that it wouldn't last long.

_I almost wish that I could fire him,_ he sighed. _But he does his job well enough, and cutting off his only source of income won't do anything to shrink his debt._

As he supervised his sons' repair job, the fingers of his right hand traced the outline of his gym's badge in his pocket. It was a white disk carved from a seashell that had a tight spiral etched into it. A distant cousin of his handmade all the badges that he handed out to successful challengers in addition to making jewelry out of shells to support himself.

It was not only the symbol of his gym, but of his ancient clan. In other lands the symbols of gyms either represented the specialization or some abstract shape that suited the leader's fancy. But in the Land of Whirlpools all gym badges were based on the ancient crests of the clans that ran the gyms, which gave them greater significance.

There had once been five gyms in their nation's pokémon league—one gym for each of the five islands. The Uzumaki Gym proved the strength of water on Central Uzu, the Kinomoto Gym demonstrated the strength of grass on South Uzu, the Biyokuchi Gym proved the power of fighting on East Uzu, the Retsukai Gym had shown the power of ice on North Uzu, and the Hoshitama Gym on West Uzu attested to the strength of steel. But then, shortly after Kenjiro had taken over leadership if his gym, the Hoshitama Gym had collapsed…

_That was when things really started to fall apart, _he thought, still rubbing on the badge in his pocket. _The Hoshitama Gym closed and no one stepped forward to revive it. Then the old league champion, Takeshi Kurohi, died and no one got around to setting up a tournament to select a successor. And now I have to resort to this to get enough money to keep my own gym functioning._

It made him want to spit. _Uzu no Kuni_'s Pokémon League was one of the oldest in continuous existence. All of their gyms predated _any_ formal league and all were still family-owned by the same bloodlines that had founded them. And now after centuries of success their long tradition of pokémon training and battling seemed to be nearing collapse.

_To think that I might live to see the end of our League…_

Kenjiro shook himself and focused on the present. His gym needed to be prepared for the coming special challenger. And in a few days he would face this foreigner and educate him on the power of water, just as he did for young trainers seeking to earn his respect and badge.

_I will treat him just the same as everyone else._


	6. Part VI

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part VI_

The Wingull Rocks were a trio of mini-islands clustered close together two miles off the coast of Central Uzu. They were too small and their sides were too steep for humans to live there, but it was perfect for huge flocks of wingulls and pelippers. The monstrous sea birds nested there in the spring and summer, and perched there at night all year round.

Few things aside from the wingulls and pelippers ever visited the place. The currents were especially strong there and when combined with the tides and the shallow, rocky bottom it was a death trap to most boats, even in calm weather. It was so dangerous there that even some kinds of water pokémon that avoided the area, lest they become trapped in the triangular dead spot at the heart of the tiny islands and become unable to break through the barrier of fast-flowing currents.

_If smugglers lost pokémon near the Rocks, the monsters could get stuck in the dead spot,_ Kushina mused as the flat-topped columns of rock came into view. _Non-native water pokémon wouldn't know to stay clear of the currents and they could end up trapped… It's a good thing that Tsunami's such a strong swimmer!_

"I hope we find something," the red-head said.

Maybe there would be tropical pokémon, like finneon and lumineon or corsola. Or perhaps there would be freshwater pokémon, like buizel and floatzel or slowpoke. Or maybe it was something _really_ rare…

Getting into the heart of the Wingull Rocks was something of an adventure of its own. Sometimes Tsunami had to cut sideways across the currents and other times the gyarados had to ride with the currents to progress. Several times they came close to getting battered into the sheer cliffs or smaller spires of rocks. But she and her sea monster made it into the calm heart of the Rocks and Kushina immediately got down to business.

"Hoshi," she called as she released her psychic starfish, "use your _illuminate _ability to draw any submerged pokémon to the surface." Then she unleashed her lanturn. "Hikari, get ready to drive monsters away, or paralyze them." And then she patted Tsunami's broad scaly head. "And you rest up for the trip out of here, okay?"

The purple starfish dove until the water, sinking just deep enough that the only thing visible of it was its glowing central gem. The electric anglerfish started circling the floating gyarados, ready for anything. Kushina dug around in her waterproof pack to pull out her pokédex and the special specimen-gathering pokéballs, and waited.

_Now let's see what's here…_

* * *

><p>Shun finished checking over the fresh liquor shipment to his uncle's pub, <em>The Salty Pelipper<em>, and wandered out of the back to lean up against the bar while he waited for his shift to start. It was early afternoon so only a handful of alcoholic patrons were inside, nursing their drinks of choice. In a few hours the rush would start with thirsty sailors, fishermen, and workers finishing their job for the day and coming in for something to relax with.

"Coming in for a pre-shift drink?" Arata asked as he slid over.

"Of course not," Shun snorted. "I'm just killing a bit of time."

"Ah, the national pastime," Arata nodded sagely. "What we do when we aren't busting our butts at whatever job we have—kill time."

Shun rolled his eyes and hopped onto a barstool. "You've lived on this island your whole life, right?"

"Discounting the time I did some pokémon-journeying…yeah, my whole life." The dirty-blond started polishing some clean beer steins to look busy. "Why do you want to know?"

"I ran into a former native who I've never heard of before," Shun said. "I was hoping you might be able to tell me about her."

"Her?" Arata's eyebrows lifted up to his hairline. "You want to know about a woman? Who is it? Is she hot? Do you want to bang her? What does she look li—"

"Slow down there, horn-dog," Shun grunted. "She claims to be engaged."

"She _claims_?" Arata smirked. "There's no proof? No ring? No boyfriend?" His smirk widened. "Are you sure she didn't just shoot you down?"

"Did you know a Kushina Uzumaki?" Shun asked wearily.

"Kushina Uzumaki?" Arata repeated, halting his pointless polishing, his face slack with shock. "Did I know her? …Hell, yes! You saw her around? Like, around _here_, as in, _on this island_?"

"Yes, last I saw her was near the Sealed Shrine," Shun answered. "How well did you know her?"

"We were best buddies!" Arata grinned. "Me, and her, and Daichi Myoubikou, and Ando Akisame would hang out together all the time—sometimes her second cousin Hachiro, too. She was just one of the boys; she wore her older brothers' hand-me-down clothes and kept her hair really short. Never had any female friends, and never really ran with boys besides us and her brothers." His grin turned lopsided. "What does she look like now?"

"Pretty. Really long hair." Shun rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. "When did she move away?"

"Long hair?" Arata gaped. "No way! She's always hated her hair. Why the heck would she grow it out?" Then Shun's question seemed to register. "Move away? She didn't move away, she _ran_ away, and never looked back. She used to send these gloating postcards home every now and then and the whole town would be gossiping about them for weeks afterwards."

"Hmm…" Shun braced his elbows on the countertop and stared down at the dark wood. _So…she was a tomboy?_

"Wait." Arata started poking him in the shoulder. "You said that she said that she was _engaged_? Like, for real? She wasn't kidding?"

"She seemed serious to me," Shun shrugged and brushed Arata's finger away. "Quit poking me!"

"So, she's back in town, has long hair, and is engaged," Arata mused to himself, tracing his Kurokawa clan tattoo with his index finger. Then he clapped his hands. "I gotta tell everybody! Let's see… Daichi moved to West Uzu, but I've got his number. Hachiro lives on South Uzu now—haven't talked to him in a while; I need to ask him if he has a new boyfriend since he ditched the last one. And Ando, my brother from another mother, is still bumming out somewhere in Jungle Country…the bastard." Arata sighed. "I really need to find a way to go out and join him. All his postcards boast about all the hot chicks that he meets…"

Shun stopped listening as the Kurokawa man started rambling on about his childhood friend's claims of bikini-clad hotties and mused on a far more interesting subject.

_A tomboy who ran away from home and never came back… It sounds like she's a real scandal. How come I haven't heard a thing about her until now?_

* * *

><p>Arashi poked the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he struggled to pick splinters out of his fingers with a little pair of tweezers while he sat on the back steps of the house. Repairing the old bleachers had turned out to be a real pain in the butt. And there was still some bench replacement and sanding that needed to be done before they were finished.<p>

His cousin Akane was nearby giving her precious pokémon a little spa day. She had already brushed the fur coats of delcatty and pachirisu to a soft sheen, and now was rubbing lightly perfumed oils into the skin of her other creatures. She'd already finished with her meganium and azumarill, she was working on her vaporeon, and her milotic was next in line.

"It's hard to believe that Kushina's really back after so long," Akane cheerfully chattered as she massaged her vaporeon on the grass. "Have you seen any of her pokémon?"

"Nope," Arashi answered with a shrug.

"I wonder what her milotic is like," Akane said.

"How do you know that she has a milotic?" Arashi snorted. "She was all mad to get a gyarados before she ran off, even though it really wasn't gender-appropriate."

"But…but she's all grown up now!" Akane sputtered. "She's grown out her hair, she has a child, and she's going to get married soon. Surely she's out-grown all those silly ideas she had as a girl. Milotic is the epitome of beauty, elegance, grace, serenity, and femininity. Why _wouldn't_ she want one?"

Arashi just shook his head. _I don't think she's magically changed into the perfect woman just because she's all grown up now._

"Well, I hope that she's not so busy tomorrow," Akane continued on cheerily. "I'd love to have a little girl's day with her. We'll do each other's hair and nails, and I'll share my make-up with her, and we seem to be the same size so I can share some of my dresses…"

He rolled his eyes and tuned her out as he worked on his last stubborn splinter. When he finally dug the offending bit of wood from his digit he sighed in relief. Shaking out his abused hand he propped his back up against the back door and stared up at the cloudy gray sky.

Arashi spaced out for a while until his cousin shook his shoulder with a floral-scented hand to get his attention.

"Hey, I asked you what you think Kushina's fiancé is like," Akane pouted.

"No idea," Arashi grunted, waving her back to her milotic. "She said that he's a good guy… But that's what you said about all three of your boyfriends, so I don't know."

"My boyfriends weren't so bad," Akane sighed. "Ayumu was so sweet…"

"When he was sober, which was about half the time," Arashi grunted.

"I could've helped him!" Akane protested.

"Like his mother helped him?" he challenged. "She'd slip him extra money that she knew he'd use to buy booze, and she never put her foot down about it."

Akane anxiously fiddled with the ties that held her billowing sleeves back to keep them clean and oil-free. "Well…well, Itsuki always treated me to dinner and gave me presents…"

"He was a degenerate gambler that had to pawn his grandmother's jewelry to be able to court you," Arashi grimaced. "If you married him our family would've had to pay for the wedding and you'd be living in near poverty."

"Itsuki wasn't much worse than you are," Akane muttered.

"I am nothing like him!" Arashi snapped hotly. "My debts are nothing compared to his!"

"If you say so," Akane sighed and gently rubbed her milotic's dull red head fins.

"And don't you go and try to defend Yuudai," he growled. "Not only was that creep a Kurohi, he treated his old girlfriends little better than slaves. He looks at women like they're property. He only wanted to marry you to 'own' an Uzumaki that would clean his house, cook his meals, and have his babies."

"He was so handsome and so protective…" Akane protested feebly.

"Pretty faces can hide ugly hearts," Arashi responded. "And Yuudai's heart was definitely ugly. I'm so glad that that piece of slime relocated to North Uzu."

His cousin wilted over her milotic's sinuous form. "Why can't I find myself a good man?"

"No clue," he replied.

"Aren't I pretty enough," she asked plaintively. "Aren't I a good enough cook, a good enough housekeeper?"

"No idea," Arashi groaned. _Not this again…_

"I can sew, I can arrange flowers, I know how to make poffins and pokéblocks, I have dozens and dozens of Contest ribbons and trophies, I can perform the traditional tea ceremony…"

"I know," he sighed.

"Aren't I good enough?" Akane nearly whimpered.

"You're just fine," Arashi told her. "You just haven't found the right man that really appreciates you and will treat you right. That's all."

Akane was silent as she finished oiling her serpentine milotic. She polished the blue and pink scales on the tail until they sparkled. And then she tied fresh white ribbons onto the milotic's drooping red head fins, making them look like a pair of ponytails.

"I wonder…" she said suddenly. "Do you think that Kushina's fiancé has a brother?"

Arashi scrubbed a hand over his face and swallowed a groan.

* * *

><p>Minato sat in the train compartment with his hands laced behind his head and half-dozed as he stared out the window. Genma sat across from him and chewed on a toothpick as he read a magazine. And Kiroi and Zang, Genma's zangoose, sat loose with them, napping on the padded bench seats.<p>

"…I can't wait until we get into the station," Genma sighed. "My butt's starting to hurt."

"I don't see why we aren't taking the overnight train," Minato frowned.

"I can't sleep on trains," his assistant answered. "And what's the rush? From what I hear, there's not much to do in the Land of Whirlpools."

"I prefer being early to being late," Minato replied.

"We won't be late," Genma promised. "The weather forecast is good for the next week so the ferries won't be delayed or held in port for days."

Minato nodded slowly and looked out the window again as the scenery blurred by. If he'd visited _Uzu no Kuni_ before, he would've been able to fly there in a day and a half to two days. But since it was a completely unknown area to him, he didn't dare try and fly there. There weren't any real landmarks out in the ocean, the weather out there could be unpredictable, and GPS devices could malfunction or be dropped in turbulence. Flying pokémon had excellent senses of direction and memories for locations, so once he familiarized himself with the Land of Whirlpools he could return there by flying on Ryuu whenever he wanted…

"I wonder what it will be like there," Minato thought aloud.

"Rainy and cool," Genma shrugged.

"Besides that," the blond man said. "Uncle Jiraiya visited there twice briefly, and most of what he told me was that it was chilly, rainy, grim, and nearly devoid of pretty girls in cute swim suits."

"No wonder his visits were brief," Genma half-grinned.

Minato chuckled a little, but his amusement was quickly weighed down with worry.

_When he called the place grim, I don't think that my uncle was just talking about the landscape…_

* * *

><p>The sun was setting when Kushina returned to Professor Utatane's lab. The old woman was in her map room and making pencil notations on an old chart of ocean currents and a tide chart. Kushina strolled over and plunked two metallic pokéballs onto the table.<p>

"Found something, did you?" Koharu remarked and set down her pencil. "Let's take those to my exam room."

The exam room was furnished with a metal table and some scientific equipment. Koharu warmed up the computer terminal and adjusted a few things before plugging in the GPS device she'd loaned the Kushina to get the navigational data. When everything was set up to her satisfaction she nodded to the red-head.

"Alright, let's see them."

"Well, I followed a tip and went to the Wingull Rocks," Kushina explained. "And this was the first thing that I was able to find that was unusual."

The first creature that she released onto the metal table was nearly four feet tall, pink, and frilly. It was a jellyfish that was nearly twice the size of the more familiar tentacool that was native to the waters around _Uzu no Kuni_. And instead of being part poison like tentacool, it was part ghost.

"A frillish," Professor Utatane remarked with some surprise, and did a little checking on her computer. "A female…with _cursed body_. Now that it is legal to import them, in limited quantities, the smugglers are willing—or at least _more_ willing—to move them." The old woman did more with her computer before taking the stainless steel pokéball and sealing the frillish back up. "And the other one?"

The next thing Kushina set free was a very ugly fish. It had frayed fins, a bony body, deep-set eyes, and rock-like mottled scales. Most of its scales were a washed out gray-purple but there was a sprinkling of muddy tan, its blue fins were pale blue, and the monstrous fish was lethargic and limp.

"I think they tried to dye this poor feebas to convince some sucker that it's shiny," the red-head said with a scowl. "And it's a freshwater creature. It can tolerate saltwater for a while, but it's been out in the sea for too long."

"Hmm…" Koharu ran through the same basic tests as she had with the frillish, and took a few little scale and fin samples as well. "It's female, that makes it desirable enough with how feebas schools stick to only a few places in a handful of remote streams and underground lakes. But some of my equipment seems to be acting up again. It's saying that this feebas has _adaptability_ when feebas are only known to have _swift swim_ as its ability. I've seen some mention in scientific literature that pokémon originating from that new region are known to sometimes have unusual abilities, but…"

The old woman fingered one of her dangling earrings before coming to some decision and putting the pathetic fish back into confinement.

"Take this with you and see if you can't get it to evolve into a milotic before you leave," the woman professor instructed, pressing the feebas's metallic container into Kushina's hand. "Have Akane help you; she's already raised her own milotic successfully. If you do well I might let you keep it."

"I can't have the frillish?" Kushina asked. _Yeah, it's pink and frilly, but it's a water-ghost. I've always wished there was a water-ghost! And milotic is a Contest pokémon…_

"I'd like to do a long-term study on it, since it's a species that there isn't any local literature on," Koharu explained.

"Ah," Kushina nodded. _Well, maybe I'll trap some other loose smuggled monsters that Professor Utatane will let me take instead._

"I think you've been more helpful in one day than either of my usual assistants have in an average week," the old woman snorted and passed back the GPS device. "Go and get some dinner."

"Yes, ma'am," Kushina nodded sharply. "Have a nice evening."

The professor nodded and waved her off. "I'll see you sometime tomorrow."

"Right," Kushina agreed and headed out of the laboratory. _Hopefully I'll have just missed dinner so I'm not stuck sitting with everyone and forced to defend my life choices again…_

* * *

><p>Naruto gratefully collapsed into the bunk bed at the Pokémon Center where Ken-Ichi had decided to stop. Sasuke was already in the upper bunk flipping through a magazine that he'd taken from the Center's ground floor. Sakura was in the girl's bathroom showering and brushing her teeth. And Ken-Ichi was still on the main level of the Pokémon Center checking things on one of the PC terminals.<p>

They'd spent all day on the road, stopping only to use the bathroom or get a quick bite to eat. The pace was stiffer than Naruto was used to, and Sasuke and Sakura weren't too happy with it either. Naruto hoped that this supposed cousin of his wouldn't push them to travel so fast the whole trip.

_My feet hurt,_ Naruto pouted as he peeled off his shoes. _I hope that I don't end up with blisters._ He grimaced when he found one of the soles of his shoes starting to peel loose. _I don't want to have to get new shoes either…_

He sighed and went about changing into his pajamas and crawling under the thin sheets. There had been a couple of times that he'd wanted to stop and look around, but Ken-Ichi had been against it. The older boy was dead-set on getting home as soon as possible to avoid his mother's wrath, and Naruto could almost understand it.

_If his mom gets as scary as my mom does when she's mad, I wouldn't want to piss her off either. But…can't he just call her and explain things? And my mom doesn't like it that I travel alone so much, but she lets me do it…_

There was a soft _pop_ and then the scrabbling of tiny claws on the side of his bunk.

_"Vee!"_

Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned over to pull Vee onto the bed with him. All day long the little eevee had periodically escaped from his pokéball to walk with him. But, being a baby, his short attention span meant that Naruto ended up chasing him off the road dozens of times when a flower, or leaf, or small insect caught his eye.

"You can't just come out whenever you want," he scolded. "Not all places like loose pokémon running around, so don't get in the habit of doing it."

The baby eevee was unbothered by his words and spun around a few times before curling up next to his head on the pillow. Naruto sighed in defeat and pulled his ball-belt out of his backpack to set Eve loose as well (and to make sure that Kitsune hadn't escaped) so that the gray eevee could keep an eye on Vee. He would've given the job to Bolt, but Naruto knew that he tended to squirm a lot in his sleep and when he jostled the pikachu he tended to get a little shock.

Eve was an excellent babysitter. She seemed to love mothering Vee—she would groom him with her tongue, subtly herd him with her body to keep him on the road with the rest of the group, and she made sure that he'd eaten all of his food before she ate a bite of her own. But whenever some passerby would see her and run over for a closer look, she would freeze up and then try to hide.

"Make sure he doesn't wander off while I'm sleeping, okay?" Naruto instructed her.

She stared into his eyes for a moment before carefully creeping over to where Vee was snoozing and curling up next to him.

"Man," Naruto closed his eyes, "I hope we don't have to walk as far tomorrow."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"We probably won't," Sakura said as she walked past their bunks with damp hair. "I saw Ken-Ichi checking train schedules on the computer, so we'll only have to walk until we reach a train station."

"We're catching a train ride?" Naruto blinked and slowly grinned. "Cool!"

_A train ride means a lot less walking…and there's no way that Kitsune can sneak off a moving train car when I'm not looking, either!_


	7. Part VII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part VII_

Just as the sun was starting to rise, Goro Kurohi finished checking over his books in his cluttered little office and then pulled out his _other_ set of books. He was about halfway through his second set of ledgers when he was work was interrupted. A nervous, lanky younger man slipped inside and closed the door behind him and squirmed as he waited for acknowledgement. While Goro ignored him, the newcomer eyed a menacing stone gargoyle crouched in the corner of the office.

"…Well?" Goro finally prompted, making the other man flinch.

"Ah…the latest shipment made it to our mainland sellers without incident and we've picked up a few more clutches of eggs from our couriers last night," the nervous man replied. "The forgers should have the right paperwork ready for them to go out on a cargo vessel in three or four days. And in five days, our courier boats should start bringing in several cases of tax-free liquor and several poached larvitar from overseas."

"And there have been no more screw-ups?" Goro demanded with a growl.

"N-no," the other man gulped. "No lost or broken merchandise…"

"…_This_ time," Goro almost sneered. "So what if we were able to retrieve most of the feebas, frillish, finneon, and basculin that escaped? There could be a few still unaccounted for out there, and that fumble with the eggs!" He shook his head savagely and adjusted his half-moon spectacles on his crooked nose. "That crate that they smashed contained the only eggs that were really worth anything! …But I suppose that they weren't the only ones at fault since there clearly wasn't enough straw packed in there to keep them safe."

The nervous man eagerly nodded in agreement, his eyes straying towards the gargoyle that seemed to be staring at him.

"Warn our dear employees that any further mistakes like that will result in more than a pay cut," Goro instructed. "Now, shoo! I have finances to wrangle. If there are any emergencies, I'll be at _The Salty Pelipper_ tonight to have supper with my nephew, so be discreet."

"Yes, sir!" Goro's underling almost saluted and stumbled a bit in his haste to escape from the cramped office.

Goro rolled his eyes and reapplied himself to the pages of numbers in his books with a disgusted sigh.

_It's harder and harder to find good help these days…_

The eyes of the gargoyle statue briefly flashed blue.

* * *

><p>Kushina peered into the chilled drawers in the pantry where her family stored their berries and frowned.<p>

_Damn, nothing more potent than a bluk berry…_

"I have all the other ingredients ready," Akane chirped, and Kushina peered over her shoulder at her cousin.

Akane was wearing a simpler yukata with her sleeves tied back to keep them clean and out of the way. Over her traditional dress she wore an apron that was more frilly than practical. She had already laid out the basic ingredients for poffin batter on the kitchen countertop along with some mixing bowls, wooden spoons, and specialized baking pans.

"For the last time," Kushina sighed. "I really don't need your help. I know how to make poffins; I bake them as special treats all the time."

"But you admitted that you've never mixed up poffins to improve a pokémon's condition before," Akane replied with a cheery smile. "Since I blend up specialized poffins all the time, I'll help you!"

Kushina carefully dug around the berries, hoping to find more useful ones buried at the bottom of the drawer. "True, I've never baked up poffins to specifically increase beauty or cuteness, but I know a lot about berries and in theory I can—"

"To boost your feebas's beauty so that it can evolve, you need to mix poffins that have a dry flavor," Akane lectured. "So just pick some bluk berries to wash and chop up while I start mixing the batter."

"Isn't there anything better than bluk berries in the house?" Kushina complained. "They don't make very potent poffins and it would take weeks of steady poffin supplements to get that feebas—which is _not_ mine, just in my care for the moment—to become beautiful enough to evolve. Don't we have any chilan berries?"

"No, those are so expensive!" Akane answered.

"Wiki berries?" Kushina tried.

"No, those have to be imported," Akane shrugged. "Too expensive."

_Then I suppose pamtre berries would be out of the question,_ Kushina sighed. "Cornn berries?"

"Mmm…I think one of my friends gardens those," Akane said. "I'll have to ask her for some. But for this first batch we'll just use bluk berries. They're my favorite because they boost cuteness, too!"

_Somehow I am not surprised._ Kushina shook her head a bit and gathered up some bluk berries from the drawer to prepare. _If I want this feebas to evolve in a reasonable amount of time with minimum poffin-baking I think I'm going to have to ask Iruka to swing by my house and pick a few things to transfer out to me._ A wry grin tugged at the corner of her mouth._ I never thought I'd be so glad that Naruto got that pamtre berry from Ino after that Contest he helped her with…_

* * *

><p>Uzu-chan paced around the outside of Kushina's old house out of boredom and curiosity. With the red-head busy baking special pastries for the sad little fish that she was taking care of the vaporeon had decided to do a little exploring. She wouldn't go far and she really wanted to see the place where her trainer had been born.<p>

The Land of Whirlpool seemed rather grim and gloomy at first glance. The blue sky was blocked out by a blanket of gray clouds and the island they were on seemed more rocky than green. But Kushina's old house overlooked the ocean and the breeze blowing up and over the sea cliffs was salty and refreshing. It wasn't exactly a water pokémon's idea of paradise, but it was certainly a nice place to be.

_I wonder why she never came back here,_ Uzu-chan thought as she picked her way through the tall grass that grew around the house. _I'd love to swim in the ocean here. The currents and whirlpools sound tricky but exciting to navigate!_

The near-constant sea breeze shifted slightly and another pokémon's scent was brought to her nose. Uzu-chan hesitated before carefully slinking towards the source of the scent. There was something oddly familiar yet completely unfamiliar and definitely masculine about it…

The tall grass cleared to reveal a roughly circular sandy depression, and standing in the center was another vaporeon. It was slightly larger than she was, and male. And when he turned around at the sound of her rustling aside some grass, she was struck breathless by his beauty.

His blue skin was sleek and unmarred by any faint scars. His cranial fins and neck frill were perfect, free of any small tears or tiny holes. He moved gracefully and his body seemed to have a slight sheen to it, and there was a little black bowtie around his neck and in front of his white neck frill.

_:Hello,:_ he greeted. _:I am Aquarius. Who might you be?:_

_ :I-I'm Uzu-chan,: _she stammered, still a bit awed by his magnificent appearance.

_:Come closer,:_ he invited with a twitch of his ear-like fins. _:I'd love to get a better look at you.:_

Uzu-chan swallowed nervously and stepped out onto the open sandy ground. She felt a bit self-conscious as his dark eyes studied her form. Even with proper and prompt medical treatment, years of battling had left her with tiny scars and rips in her more fragile fins, and they seemed so much more noticeable when compared against Aquarius's pristine form.

_:…Does your trainer not care about your appearance?:_ he asked with concern.

_:Kushina takes very good care of me!:_ Uzu-chan frowned, immediately rising to her human's defense.

_:I did not mean to offend you,:_ he instantly apologized. _:I only asked because it does not seem like she takes any pains in enhancing the subtle beauty that I see in you.:_

She started and then ducked her head bashfully as her face heated. _:I'm not all that beautiful…:_

_:You are,:_ he insisted. _:And you have the potential to be even more beautiful with the proper care and nutrition.:_

She timidly pawed at the sandy ground and tried not to melt. Once, long ago when she'd been a simple eevee, she'd been horribly infatuated with Senkou. He had already been a jolteon by the time that she had hatched, and she had thought him to be amazing as he was so much older and more evolved than she was.

But while he had recently claimed to have always loved her, back then he'd only regarded her as some cute kid and spent his affections on anything female and more evolved than her. When she had finally evolved into a vaporeon, Senkou had finally taken real notice of her…but he'd been too late. She had come to see him as a foolish clown and was through waiting for him to flirt with her.

Aquarius was nothing like Senkou.

He radiated calm and poise in addition to his incredible beauty. He had evolved in the same way that she had and so they surely had much more in common. And even though they had just met and she knew little more than his name, she was certain that he would treat her better than Senkou ever had.

_:Allow me to escort you and show you around,:_ he offered. _:And perhaps a little later I might be able to beg a few extra sweet poffins for you from my mistress.:_

Uzu-chan accepted with a smile.

_He's so smooth and gentlemanly,_ she thought dreamily. _Unlike a certain jolteon that I happen to know…_

* * *

><p>Kushina stalked out of Uzu Town just before noon in an irritable mood. Baking the necessary beauty-enhancing poffins had taken up most of the morning because Akane had kept trying to teach her how to do it "properly". And then before Kushina had left the house to feed the feebas and visit town for a few things, Akane caught sight of their two vaporeons enjoying each other's company and broke out into a squealing fit.<p>

_"You have a female vaporeon? Oh, she and Aquarius look so adorable together! If they fall in love they'll make the cutest baby eevees! Won't it be wonderful if our pokémon become mates? Then you'll have to visit more often because you can't get in the way of true love…"_

The red-head shuddered and picked up the pace a little bit. After planting the seed of that nightmare in her brain, Akane had been thoroughly distracted by the feebas that Kushina had been put in charge of. She cooed and stroked the mottled fish and wondered why on earth that anyone would try and dye it as the only way to improve a feebas's appearance was to feed it dry-flavored poffins or pokéblocks.

Her quick little errands in town had been blessedly uneventful for the most part. No one really recognized her; they just gave her the mildly suspicious stare that locals always gave to strangers. But in the last shop that she'd visited she had had a near miss.

Arata Kurokawa, her old friend, had happened to be in the same store and had been using the payphone in the back. He still hadn't broken his habit of talking loudly when on the phone so she hadn't had to strain her ears to eavesdrop on him. He looked much older and more grown-up than she remembered, but personality wise he didn't seem to have changed. And whoever he'd been talking to, he'd been telling them about hearing that she was back in town.

_I wonder how he found out,_ she pondered with a frown. _My brothers never really talked with him. And there's no way that Aunt Asuka or Akane would speak to him since he's always been a bit of a pervert._

Thankfully he'd been too engrossed in his phone call to notice her, and even if he had she was pretty sure that he wouldn't recognize her. When she'd been a scruffy little tomboy he had always treated her like another boy, but now that she was more feminine in appearance she had little doubt that he'd hit on her. Since she hadn't felt like dealing with him, she'd hurriedly made her purchase and left.

As the terrain grew hilly, she did her best to let her irritation drain away. It was always best to approach the Sealed Shrine in a calm state of mind. And especially when she wasn't sure that Kyuumaru really recognized and trusted her.

"Good afternoon, Kyuumaru," she said when she reached the outer ring of stones around the shrine. "It's Kushina Uzumaki again, and I've brought you some food and other things." She bowed. "Please accept my gifts."

The ninetales was nowhere in sight, but Kushina assumed that he was watching her as she slowly approached the shrine structure. Kyuumaru had lived on the hill for a few centuries and was intimately familiar with every stunted tree, gnarled bush, grass clump, weed patch, root, fallen twig, crunchy leaf, and loose pebble. That made him a master of stealth on his home ground and for all she knew he was right behind her. She would only see him when he allowed her to see him.

She knelt by the front steps of the shrine and laid out some food, including a few leftover poffins from the batch that she'd baked. Then she backed off and took a seat on one of the stone half-spheres that formed the outer boundary of the shrine. And then she waited.

_I'll wait for a half an hour and if he doesn't show himself I'll try again tomorrow…_

It turned out that she only had to sit around for ten minutes. One moment she was staring at an exceptionally stunted and gnarled pine tree, and the next she caught sight of the ninetales sitting only three yards away from her and staring. She restrained a flinch and adjusted her position so that she was facing the fire fox straight on and waited for him to make a move.

Kyuumaru was an old ninetales—much older than the one-eyed Madara that had caused trouble in and around Konoha Town, but not nearly as old as the ninetales that Naruto had met in _Oni no Kuni_, the five-hundred-year-old Inari. She couldn't remember his exact age off-hand, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred, give or take a few decades. And for the last century and a half he had lived on this hill all alone, which left him semi-feral and a bit unpredictable.

"I can't imagine what it must be like for you," she said to him as he stared at her. "You've outlived all your friends, even Ryuuza, and still you stay up here without any company to fulfill Mito-sama's last command. I probably would've gone completely crazy after only a year or two of living like you do."

The unkempt ninetales narrowed his ruby eyes at her but otherwise didn't move a muscle.

"I wonder if you ever think about leaving," Kushina continued. "That was all I dreamed about when I was a girl—getting away from this island and having adventures with pokémon of my own. I wanted to be as powerful and talented as Mito-sama was, and when people would make fun of my ambitions I only wanted to achieve them more…"

Kyuumaru flicked his ears and then slowly stood, fanning his nine tails out behind him.

"When was the last time that Akane spent any real time up here?" she wondered with a frown. "She used to keep you so well-brushed. So what if she goes out of town for Contests every other month or so? It shouldn't be too hard to stop by whenever she's home to give you a good grooming. Families of other clans might occasionally bring you gifts, but she's an Uzumaki and your well-being is our clan's responsibility!"

He blinked and then slowly crept over to where she was sitting. Kushina sat silent and still as he delicately sniffed at her knee. Whatever he found by listening to her talk and smelling her seemed to satisfy him and he sat down again by the base of the rock that she was sitting on and scanned his surroundings like he was ready to guard her.

"…Well." Kushina reached into her bag and pulled out a newly-purchased wire grooming brush and a length of red-and-white striped rope. "I probably won't be as good at this as Akane, but will you let me help you out?"

The ninetales glanced at her over his shoulder, gave the slightest nod, and then went back to keeping his sense alert for any trespassers.

"Okay." She carefully started picking loose the knot of the ratty old rope collar before she started using the brush. "Let's get started then…"

* * *

><p>Eve watched as Vee pressed his face against the glass window to see the scenery whip by. There were inside of something that was called a train that moved incredibly fast. They sat in a room that could easily have accommodated eight or ten humans, but it only contained Naruto, the pink-haired girl, the black-haired boy, and Naruto's older relation.<p>

Aside from herself and Vee, several other pokémon were loose. Bolt the pikachu sat up by the window with Vee, ready to catch the baby should he fall backwards. The aggressive one, now known as Grimm, sulked under the padded bench seat where the black-haired boy sat. The scarred one, now known as Nemo, was sniffing around the compartment. And then the pink-haired girl released something large and purple with a split tail from one of her spheres.

_:Hmm…:_ The purple monster looked around curiously. _:A lot of new faces… Bolt, is Shadow around?:_

The pikachu flinched and glanced over his shoulder with a sad expression. _:No, he's…gone.:_

_ :Gone? You mean—:_ The unfamiliar creature's eyes flashed blue briefly, and then turned understanding. _:I see. I'm sorry to hear that.:_ It's dark eyes drifted over the eevees and landed on Eve. _:My, my…you're different.:_

Eve wilted a little. _:That's what everyone says.:_

_ :There's nothing wrong with that,:_ the larger monster hurriedly assured her. _:It's just that I've never met an eevee that looks quite like you.:_

_ :Never?:_ Eve blinked. _:I know that I was the only one like me where I lived, but…:_

Vee chose that moment to notice that there was a pokémon in the compartment that he hadn't met yet and bounded down from the window to sit right in front of the newcomer.

_:Friend!:_

_ :Well, hello there,:_ the strange monster greeted. _:You're a young one, aren't you? I wonder, will you grow up to be an espeon like me?:_

_:Espeon?:_ Nemo rubbed at his scarred eyebrow with a front paw. _:I've never heard of such a thing.:_

_ :Really?:_ The espeon tilted her head. _:My family group taught me the seven paths an eevee can take when I was young. Weren't you taught that, too?:_

Eve shook her head. _:No…could you teach us?:_

_ :Certainly,:_ the espeon agreed. _:By the way, my name is Dawn.:_ She sat down and curled her partly-split tail around her feet. _:The three element stones lead to the paths of water, fire, and lightning. Love, and the sun and moon lead to the paths of the mind and the darkness. The rock of moss and the rock of ice lead to the paths of summer greenery and winter cold. When an eevee sets foot to one of these paths, their form changes and there is no turning back.:_

_ :No turning back?:_ Eve repeated with a shiver.

_:It's nothing bad,:_ Dawn shrugged. _:Sakura's love and the light of the sun made me evolve into an espeon. Depending on what your trainers do, they will help you down one of the paths and a new, more powerful form.:_

_ :A more powerful form?:_ Grimm perked up, speaking for the first time.

Dawn nodded. _:Yes. It's a good thing to evolve and grow. Without Sakura I would still be as small and brown as all of you.:_

Vee tilted his head as he tried to make sense of what the older monsters were talking about. _:Evolve? Grow?:_

_ :That's right, little fellow,:_ the espeon smiled. _:One day, when you're older and that __**everstone**__ collar comes off, you'll grow and change into something new.:_

The baby eevee seemed to ponder on this for a minute before giving up and bounding back to the window.

_Something new?_ Eve stared down at the carpeted floor with a little frown. _Since I'm different, will it be the same for me?_

* * *

><p>"I wonder what they talk about," Naruto remarked as he watched the pokémon seem to converse with each other.<p>

"Who knows," Ken-Ichi shrugged, not looking away from his little book of Sudoku puzzles. "And so long as they get along and aren't conspiring against us, who cares?"

"I don't know, it could be interesting," Sakura shrugged. "There's no telling what we could learn if we could understand their language."

"They could talk about the things that all animals care about," Ken-Ichi said. "Territory, battle prowess, food, and mating."

"But pokémon are smarter than normal animals," Sakura argued.

"Eh, sometimes I see things that really make me wonder about that," the older Uzumaki replied.

"Like what?" Naruto asked curiously.

Ken-Ichi closed his puzzle book around his stub of a pencil. "Well…one time—"

The train car jolted and a flash of light burst from Naruto's ball belt. It resolved itself into Kitsune and the little black fox immediately started to pace around the compartment, her blue eyes examining every detail. Some of the eevees tried to speak to her, but she ignored them.

"What on earth is that?" Ken-Ichi frowned.

"A zorua," Naruto answered. "I call her Kitsune."

"A dark-type pokémon?" Ken-Ichi guessed.

"Yep," Naruto nodded. "Hey, Kitsune, come here and show him your _illusion_ powers."

Kitsune completely ignored him and pressed experimentally against the compartment door. When it didn't give, she turned and hopped up to the window and watched the scenery flash by. After examining the window and seeing no way to open it, she finally looked over at the humans in the room.

"Not very friendly, is she?" Ken-Ichi remarked.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "But she isn't going to get any nicer if I just leave her in storage."

Ken-Ichi nodded. "True."

The zorua jumped from the windowsill to the bench seat, landing next to Naruto. She stared at him long and hard, and then gave Ken-Ichi, Sasuke, and Sakura the same staring treatment. And then Kitsune carefully crawling into Naruto's lap and looked up at him.

"Hey, are we going to be friends now?" Naruto asked with a grin and reached down to pat her head.

But before he could touch her, she hopped up into the air, tucked, rolled, glowed…

Sakura was straddling his lap with her hands lightly gripping his shoulders. A few strands of her short pink hair slipped to fall in front of her green eyes. A shy little smile touched her pink lips and she slowly leaned in towards his face.

Naruto sat frozen as his brain shorted out.

"Hey!" Sakura's voice squawked indignantly from behind her body. "What are you doing? Quit impersonating me!"

Another Sakura appeared over the Sakura-on-his-lap's shoulder and smacked her—

The illusion of the false Sakura broke apart and Kitsune bounced off his lap before the real Sakura could get her hands on the black fox. She landed on the floor and immediately stirred up the loose eevees before wrapping herself in a fresh eevee-glamour to blend in with them. Bolt jumped down to the floor to try and help sort things out, but the pack of eevees jostled so much that Dawn the espeon tripped into the pikachu and Bolt fired a few electrical sparks around the compartment, which led the humans to flail around and curse. In the brief spell of chaos Sasuke banged the compartment door enough to pop it open—

A brown eevee immediately bolted through the narrow opening with a giggle and the sound of a little silver bell.

"Kitsune!" Naruto howled and stumbled after her out into the train car hallway. "Come back here!"


	8. Part VIII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part VIII_

The zorua bristled as she was carried back into the small room by the scruff of her neck by her stupid blond human captor.

_Stupid bell!_ she thought venomously. _If it hadn't given me away, I might've been able to escape!_

"Don't you do that again!" the stupid boy warned her with a glare. However, her attention was on the compartment door as it was securely shut behind the oldest human in the group. "You almost got us thrown off the train!" her captor complained.

She was unconcerned by his grievances. The instant he set her on the floor, she tried to shove the _soothe bell_ off her neck with her front and then her back paws. But the black ribbon was thin and slick and it fitted closely to her neck so she couldn't get a good grip on it. This failure only made her more irritable about her unsuccessful escape attempt.

After successfully sparking the chaos needed to get the door open, she'd darted out into a narrow hall with doors on both walls and a door at each end of the hallway. All the other doors were shut tight and she was pursued, but she'd tried to make it work for her. The narrow hall made it impossible for more than one human to pass through at a time and made it difficult to turn around quickly, so she'd doubled back several times to dart between legs. She had hoped that the noise would encourage some other human to open one of the other doors, allowing her to escape or hide with her _illusion_ powers, but she'd gotten caught before that could happen.

_:Stupid, stupid bell!:_ she growled, vigorously shaking herself in the vain hope that the offending accessory would magically fly off.

_:Play!:_ the stupid baby eevee cried happily and jumped onto her back. _:Friend!:_

_:Hey!:_ the zorua squawked. _:Get off of me right now! I don't want to play with you; I'm not your friend!:_

She bucked the little eevee off and was immediately confronted by the male pikachu.

_:He's just a baby,:_ the yellow mouse squeaked angrily. _:You shouldn't be so mean to him!:_

_ :Keep him away from me, then,:_ the zorua sniffed.

_:Consider yourself fortunate that you're a dark type,:_ the espeon hissed. _:Otherwise I'd inflict a migraine upon you. How dare you humiliate my Sakura and cause such trouble!:_

The zorua sneered at the psychic eevee before she went back to futilely trying to remove the bell from around her neck.

"Well, that critter certainly is clever," the oldest, largest human remarked. "It knew exactly what to do to stir up trouble."

_Of course I did,_ the zorua thought smugly. _That was one of my uncles' first lessons to me. To whip up chaos, pick a target and become to opposite gender—use a face familiar to the target if possible—then invade the target's personal space and cuddle. That leads to embarrassment, shock, jealousy, and conflict…_

"How annoying," the angry dark-haired boy muttered.

"You'd better teach that thing some manners," the pink-haired girl demanded, cheeks red with embarrassment. "I don't want that fox impersonating me and making me look like an idiot!"

"I'll work on that," the blond boy promised.

The zorua rolled her eyes. She had no interest in developing manners or behaving herself. She wouldn't stop causing her captor and the humans around him trouble until she was free.

At first, when the houndoom had told her how far from her home that she supposedly was, she'd been very upset. But after calming down, it had occurred to her that the demon dog could have been lying to her. He was a human slave and would do whatever he thought would earn him praise from his master, including lie to her so that she might give up her dreams of freedom.

_:Why did you try to run?:_ the adult male eevee without a scar asked.

_:I'm going to go home,:_ the zorua snapped. _:And I need to lose these stupid humans before I make it back to my tribe or they'll cast me out.:_

_ :Why not stay?:_ the eevee said with a frown. _:You could become stronger.:_

_ :I like the easy food,:_ the eevee with the scar remarked. _:I won't miss spending hours looking for berries and tasty plants and worrying about some other pokémon stealing my meal.:_

The zorua curled her lip in disdain at their weakness. She'd never had trouble getting food. When she was with her tribe the adults provided all the food that she and her siblings and cousins could eat. And in the park it had been child's play to rob the human's buildings of whatever she'd desired. With her powers of _illusion_ they'd never found a trace of her or come remotely close to tracking her down.

And humans weren't necessary to become stronger. Her tribe taught her about her powers and gave her tasks and challenges that would increase her strength. One day, if she completed all the challenges and practiced against her family, she would become a zoroark like her mother.

_:I don't need a human's help,:_ the zorua snorted and hopped up onto the window ledge to stare out at the moving scenery in hopes of seeing something familiar. _:I'll achieve my dreams by myself.:_

_ I've really been gone for a long time,_ she thought. _Mommy must be looking for me by now. I need to make sure that I escape from the stupid human before she finds me…_

* * *

><p>As soon as it became clear that Ken-Ichi wouldn't be catching up with them, Katsuro saw no point in dragging his feet and decided to <em>fly<em> home. So he rode upon Menace, his salamence, and loaned Char the charizard to Hayato. His fierce and mighty dragon had no trouble bearing Katsuro's hefty body through the air, and Hayato was so light that Char sometimes forgot that he had a passenger and would try to do some aerobatics to break the boredom of the long flight.

So far they'd done one long flight over the continent and spent the night at the first Pokémon Center they came to as the sun started setting. Right after breakfast they took off again and flew as far as they could until lunch. And now they were over the trackless ocean, heading for the islands of _Uzu no Kuni_ and home.

"Are we almost there?" Hayato shouted over the rushing wind.

"We'll get there before dark!" Katsuro yelled back.

"I hate flying over water!" Hayato complained.

"Wimp," Katsuro muttered, letting the turbulent air swallow it up. _His name has something to do with a bird of prey and he hates flying…go figure._

Katsuro _loved_ flying. That was why he'd chosen a charmander as his first pokémon despite the fact that fire-type pokémon were extremely unpopular in his damp, water-filled homeland. And that was one of the reasons why he'd stuck with Menace, even when he'd gotten frustrated with how long it was taking the dragon to evolve.

His family bred and raised dragons since nearly the dawn of time. When the Kurohi had first come to the Land of Whirlpools there had been a wild clan of salamence that had lived in the caves of Mount Spiral at the heart of Central Uzu Island. The mighty dragons had raided the countryside almost at will, and it had been _his_ family—not the high-and-mighty Uzumaki, the snobby Hoshitama, or any other of the so-called Great Families—that had captured and trained all the wild salamence and made them productive beasts that would defend the land instead of plunder it.

_"Great Families",_ he sneered as Menace smoothly stroked through the air on his blade-shaped red wings. _They're all a big joke! Especially those Uzumaki._

There were ten families in the Land of Whirlpools that could trace their histories back to the founding of the national government many centuries ago. Each had their own preferences for types and species of pokémon, and each thought that they were the best. The Hoshitama worshipped steel-types, the Retsukai raised ice types, the Biyokuchi trained fighting pokémon, the Myoubikou attracted ghosts, the Kinomoto grew grass pokémon, the Kurokawa gathered dark creatures, his own family mastered dragons, and the Akisame, Furukawa, and Uzumaki all favored water-types and specialized in different species of sea beasts.

The Uzumaki were the ones that got on Katsuro's nerves the most. Partly it was because his family and their family had a long and unhappy history, but it was also because of their pokémon-of-choice. All their men trained gyarados and thought that they were the greatest because gyarados were dangerous and destructive in the wild, and gyarados were strong enough swimmers to cut through strong currents and had the power to temporarily neutralize whirlpools.

_There's nothing special about getting past whirlpools,_ Kasturo sniffed. _Just __**fly**__ over them! Real dragons are so much better than those dragon-wannabe water-worms that the Uzumaki love._

Shaking his head, Katsuro leaned into the wind and strained his eyes for the first faint signs of home…

* * *

><p>Minato stood near the bow of the ferry and leaned against the railing as the ocean breeze messed with his hair. Genma loitered nearby, keeping an eye out in case any reporters happened to be on the same boat so that he could try and intercept them if they wanted to bother his employer. The air was growing chilly despite it still being summer and there were no other passengers outside wandering the ferry decks on their part of the boat.<p>

_We're almost there,_ Minato thought as he gazed out to where the light blue of the sky and the deep blue of the sea met at the horizon. _We'll spend the night in a hotel on West Uzu Island, and then catch one more ferry in the morning. And then we'll reach Uzu Town by tomorrow afternoon…_

He both looked forward to arriving there, and dreaded it. Kushina had relatives in Uzu Town, but he wasn't sure what kind of relatives they were. They could be distant cousins, they could be close cousins, or they could be members of her immediate family. The man that he was to fight, Kenjiro Uzumaki, might well turn out to be her father.

_I wish I got around to weaseling names of her family members out of her,_ he thought glumly. _I know one of her brothers is named Arashi, two of her brothers are twins, and an aunt of hers ended up living in her house… But that's it. If she said anything else about her family, it was so long ago that I don't remember it._ He sighed deeply. _Why does she have to be so tight-lipped about her past?_

"Something wrong?" Genma asked as he moved alongside Minato and spat a well-chewed wooden toothpick into the sea.

"Just trying to get my head together for the fight," Minato shrugged.

"You're worried about a battle out in a backwater like the Land of Whirlpools?" Genma snorted.

"It's never wise to underestimate the difficulty of a battle not yet fought, especially because of where the battle will be held," Minato retorted. "Just because most people in the Land of Fire have never heard of Uzu Town doesn't mean that the trainers that live there will be pushovers."

"Eh, true," Genma nodded and put a fresh toothpick between his teeth. "It's just not like you to get anxious when the fight is more than a day away."

"I wish I knew a bit more background on this Kenjiro Uzumaki, that's all," Minato shrugged.

"There'll be time to do a little snooping if you really want to when we get there," Genma half-smiled. "So relax and enjoy the nice boat ride, okay?"

Minato grinned weakly and looked back out over the water.

_I know that I shouldn't worry about it…but I can't quite stop._

* * *

><p>Inaho clutched the ferry railing and stared down into the white boiling wake of the wide slow ship as it chugged along. She was white as a sheet and covered in a thin film of cold sweat. Perched on the railing beside her was her kecleon, Ziggy, holding on tight with his prehensile tail and eying her with concern.<p>

_I should never have chased after this pokémon battle._ The ferry slowly rose and fell with the gentle ocean swells and she swallowed convulsively. _What sort of backwards country doesn't have an airport?_

If she bothered to write the travel piece she'd contemplated earlier in the week, she'd bash _Uzu no Kuni_ ten ways from Sunday. The dinky island nation had no airports or airfields of any kind. The only way to come and go from the place was by boat, and Inaho did not like boats.

She carefully pried loose one hand from the railing and tucked some loose brown hair behind her ear to make sure it stayed out of the way and went back to squeezing the metal rail immediately.

_Stupid motion-sickness pills aren't working…_ She clenched her teeth and did her best to breathe shallowly. _Stupid, stupid, __**stupid**__ long boat ride!_

_ At least Minato Namikaze isn't back here… That would be so embarrassing!_

And then her lunch escaped.

* * *

><p>Kushina settled herself down on an open stool at a tiny eatery that reminded her of Konoha Town's <em>Ichiraku Ramen<em> and ordered a bowl of shrimp soup. Cleaning Kyuumaru up had taken longer than she'd expected and she'd lost track of time while she had relaxed up by the shrine. So now she was behind on doing her work for Professor Utatane.

_I'll strike out after lunch…or is it late enough to qualify as an early dinner?_

She propped her forearms on the counter and did her best to wait patiently for her order to be cooked and delivered.

_Hungry, hungry, hungry…_

"Are you sure?" a vaguely familiar masculine voice said somewhere behind her.

"Positive," a more familiar man's voice replied. "Shun's not nearly as nasty as most Kurohi, and why would he lie? He never knew her."

Kushina frowned. _Isn't that Arata?_

"Huh…so, have you seen her with your own eyes?" the first man asked.

"No, not yet," the second man sighed. "I stopped by her house a few hours ago but she'd already left for…somewhere. By the way, you got here fast. I just left a message with your sister before I swung by the house."

"I happened to be on Central Uzu today and she forwarded your message right over to me," the first man explained. "It was all so interesting that I came right over."

_Okay, now I'm curious._

Kushina spun around on her stool and carefully parted the half-curtains that gave the illusion of privacy to the eatery's patrons. A man with dirty blond hair and a long, thin, black rectangle tattoo across his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose was leaning up against a lamp post with a half-eaten carton of dango. And the man standing next to him had fair skin with a scar on his left cheek, short black hair and a neatly-trimmed goatee, dark brown eyes, and…

_Holy crap, is that Daichi?_ Kushina blinked, startled. _Where'd that scar come from?_

"It's too bad that Hachiro's busy and Ando moved all the way to Jungle Country," the dirty blond, Arata Kurokawa, sighed sadly. "It would be cool to put the band back together."

"Arata, we never had a band," the black-haired man, Daichi Myoubikou, snorted. "And if we had, it would've been really lame. Hachiro knows how to play the guitar, but Ando only ever played little bongo drums, I've can only play the harmonica, and what would've been your instrument? The tambourine? The kazoo?"

"We would've been an awesome band!" Arata grinned. "And our darling 'Shina would've been our lead singer!"

"What planet are you on?" Kushina grumbled and briefly abandoned her stool to kick Arata in the shin. "And how many times do I have to tell you to never call me that?"

"Ow!" Arata yelped, immediately taking his weight off the kicked appendage. "Hey! What was that for?"

"It's 'Kushina' or 'Uzumaki', never ''Shina'," she growled. _Only Minato could get away with that…_ And then she realized that she'd given herself away when she could've stayed hidden. _Aw, crud._

At first, neither man looked at her with any flicker of recognition. And then she saw realization of her identity in their eyes. Daichi caught on first, being the smartest of her childhood friends, and then Arata caught on, too.

"…Kushina?" Arata blinked, looking her up and down and up again. "Shun said that you had long hair, but I don't think that I really believed him."

"Look at you," Daichi murmured, giving her his own visual examination.

"Quit it," she muttered and then gave Arata a hard look. "And punch Shun for me the next time that you see him."

"Shun's a nice guy…you know, for a Kurohi," Arata protested weakly.

"A nice Kurohi?" Daichi quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"Whatever," Kushina growled and returned to her seat at the counter to wait for her soup.

"Ditching us so soon?" Daichi asked, ducking under the short curtain and claiming the stool next to her.

"Yeah, we missed you!" Arata agreed, sliding in on her other side. "Seriously, where have you been?"

"Everywhere but here," she sighed.

"Where is 'everywhere'?" Arata asked with a goofy expression. "And what's this about you possibly being engaged?"

"Engaged?" Daichi folded his arms over his chest. "Are you really?"

"Yes," Kushina nearly groaned. "You're not going to give me trouble about it, are you?"

"You're our friend and you're suddenly going to marry some stranger and we're not allowed to worry about you?" Daichi said with a slight frown.

"Yeah," Arata nodded vigorously. "What he said."

Kushina pressed her knuckle into her forehead as the beginning of a headache started to build. Her soup arrived then and she eagerly snapped apart her disposable chopsticks and dug in. Daichi and Arata placed orders for drinks and waited until the server had delivered their beverages and left before bothering her some more.

Arata poked her elbow. "So?"

"So what?" she growled between bits of noodly, shrimpy soup. "I've known him for a really long time and worry all you like; you're not going to change my mind about what I'm doing."

"So stubborn," Daichi sighed. "I guess some things will never change."

"Well you were friends with me," Kushina shrugged.

"True enough," Daichi nodded and sipped at his cup of green tea. "We missed you after you left."

Kushina fiddled with a bit of shrimp with her chopsticks. "You could've followed me out into the wider world if you'd wanted to. And Ando's seen me a couple of times."

"A couple of times?" Arata cocked his head. "I know he said that he saw you one time years ago…when else did he see you?"

"In Jungle Country a couple a little over a month ago," she told him.

"I hadn't heard about that yet!" Arata pouted. "Ando needs to send more postcards!"

"You could always go visit him yourself if you really wanted," Kushina suggested.

Arata hunched over his bottle of beer. "I think about that sometimes…"

"Why not do it, then?" she asked.

Arata shrugged.

"…Well, what finally brought you back?" Daichi asked after an uncomfortable silence.

"I got loaned to Professor Utatane until one of her regular assistants comes back," Kushina informed them.

"You didn't just want to come and visit us?" Arata pouted.

"I was going to do that eventually," she shrugged. _Probably. Like, after I got married._

Arata snorted. "What were you waiting for?"

"A good time for a trip," Kushina muttered and lifted the bowl to sip at the leftover warm broth. "You guys want to come help me survey the coastline for the professor? You can catch me up on stuff while we work."

"Sure, I'm off work for a few days," Arata grinned and tossed back his beer. "Let's go!"

"I can help for a day or two," Daichi agreed.

"Cool." Kushina finished off her soup and left her money on the counter. "There's still a few hours of good daylight left and I know just the place to search. Follow me!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Arata saluted.

"Lead on," Daichi grinned as he set down enough cash to cover both his and Arata's drinks.

Kushina smirked and headed for the harbor. "So, where's Hachiro?"

"Last I heard, he was living in sin with some dude named Akira and working on a Contest routine with his gyarados and milotic," Arata told her. "He's really into the idea of ugly destruction paired with beautiful serenity…or whatever."

She furrowed her brow. "He's what?"

"He turned out to be gay," Arata said. "You surprised?"

"…Not really," Kushina replied after a moment's thought. "It makes a lot of sense now I that I think about it. Good for him."

"It didn't much surprise us either when he finally admitted to it," Daichi shrugged. "I think the only people that were really surprised were your cousin Akane and her mother."

"That doesn't surprise me, either," Kushina muttered and rolled her eyes. "Well," she said as a gleaming stretch of water appeared up ahead, "on to adventure."

"Adventure!" Arata eagerly agreed.

Daichi just laughed.

* * *

><p>The sun had long set when the clouds parted to reveal smudges of faint stars in the black sky. The moon was still covered, leaving the night dark and forbidding. A chill wind stirred the undergrowth and made the stunted trees creak.<p>

Kyuumaru sat just outside of his den—a hollow space formed beneath the densely interwoven branches of evergreen bushes—untouched by the cold night and wondered what phase the moon would be. He'd long lost track of how long he'd been guardian of the shrine, let alone what the exact date was. Now that he was all alone it was like he'd lost his grip on the flow of time and drifted in and out of the past.

With little effort he could visualize Mito-sama sitting before the shrine and contemplating it, or standing just inside the shrine and making sketches of the carvings therein. He could imagine Tenshi and Shikon taunting Ikamaru, while Kin and Ryuuza sunned themselves on the warm flat stones set into spiral patterns around the shrine. It was so hard to remember that they were all dead and gone, even Ryuuza who had seemed to have been still alive only a few days ago, although he knew that the dragonair had been deceased for much longer than that.

Some days, when he hadn't eaten much and hadn't had any real visitors for weeks, he would start to confuse his memories of his mistress and the descendant that bore her name centuries later. He would see the other Mito among his long-dead comrades in the garb of his trainer. Or he would see _his_ Mito in more modern clothes being led astray and away by the foreign man from the mainland that he'd never liked.

And now a fresh confusion preyed upon his mind. A new Uzumaki—a Kushina that reminded him almost of a boyish child from long ago…or had that one been more recent?—that didn't bear his beloved Mito's name, but looked so much like her; like the other Mito. Even though she wore pants, something neither Mito had ever done, she still seemed to take on his Mito's hairstyle or the other Mito's glittering crystal necklace—a gift from that untrustworthy stranger.

Kyuumaru stared up into the heavens and struggled to order his thoughts into something less fuzzy and more chronological. He started with his vulpix-hood on the mainland, as there was none of his kind on this island, or anywhere in _Uzu no Kuni_. He reviewed his career with the mighty Mito Uzumaki and her fascination with the Sealed Shrine in her later years and her death…

_"Promise me that you will protect the shrine from harm…from people forgetting… Guard it…until…"_

He briefly closed his ruby eyes and whined softly in remembered pain of the heart.

_:Until my dying breath, I will guard this place for you, Mito-sama!:_


	9. Part IX

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part IX_

Shortly after breakfast, Kushina knelt by the pond below the house and set loose the feebas in her care. She'd managed to keep Akane from helping her make the latest batch of poffins and Iruka had come through for her and had electronically transferred a dozen pamtre berries from the bush next to her house. Young trainers could electronically transfer and store items for free, but after they turned eighteen there was an annoying fee every time the system was used so Kushina rarely bothered with it anymore. However, in this instance, it was a lifesaver as shipping a bunch of perishable berries through the mail was both tricky and very expensive, and it would take much longer.

"Okay little fishy, here's your breakfast and poffin supplements," she said as she poured a little dish of pokémon kibble and laid out a plate of pastries. "Eat up."

The ugly mottled fish immediately started gobbling down its meal.

Akane had insisted on calling the feebas Juuhou—precious treasure. Since it wasn't her pokémon, or anyone else's, Kushina was leery of calling it anything in particular. But she'd ended up declaring that its name was Kinpaku—gold leaf—to get her cousin off the subject.

_"Kinpaku is a wonderful name! It makes me think of Mito-sama's famous milotic, Kin."_

Kushina hadn't been able to keep from rolling her eyes. Gold leaf was sparkly and pretty, but it was just a cover. One thin layer of the stuff could be applied to anything and make it look like solid gold when it was anything but. And it seemed to be a perfectly appropriate nickname for a dyed feebas.

_I didn't get much done yesterday,_ she thought with a slight frown. _Right after I drop some snacks off to Kyuumaru I'll need to get surveying and searching. There's still __**a**__**lot**__ of coastline and tiny islands left to look at._

The feebas finished all of the food and Kushina picked it up from the water to give it a quick examination. The purple color didn't seem to have faded any and the patches of ordinary yellow-tan scales seemed…flaky. When she rubbed at the splotches, a few dried-out scales came loose.

"Weird," she muttered, rubbing the shed scales between her fingers.

It wasn't unusual for a fish pokémon to shed a few scales, but it seemed odd that only the un-dyed scales were the ones falling off. The violet scales were smooth and starting to take on a sheen—a clear sign that the fish was progressing nicely towards evolution. When the feebas started to sparkle, the change to milotic was very near. The ordinary yellow-tan scales, however, showed no hint that the poffins were doing their job.

"Really weird…" Then she shrugged and returned the fish to the plain metallic ball that the professor had given her. "I guess we'll just have to visit Professor Utatane tonight and see what she thinks about it."

_Now onto business!_

* * *

><p>Minato wasn't really sure what he'd expected to see when the ferry brushed against the Uzu Town docks just after noon, but what he found started to give him ideas of why Kushina had left and never come back. The sky was cloudy and gray, and the town that stretched out before them looked just as gloomy. As he and Genma followed a longshoreman's gruff directions to a fountain in the town square, Minato didn't see a single building that was brightly-colored; and the streets were paved with cobblestones instead of asphalt or cement. Everything was earth-toned, gray, off-white, or dull blue, and nearly all the buildings had old-fashioned roofs with upturned corners and heavy clay roof tiles.<p>

The citizens of Uzu Town looked almost as old-fashioned as their surroundings. The men wore plain, practical clothes—well-worn jeans, heavy work boots, and button-up long-sleeved shirts. Men in business attire seemed vanishingly rare; men dressed in ancient hakama pants, gi-style shirts, and haori coats were more common than men wearing ties or sport jackets.

The women that Minato saw all wore sensible, modest dresses or skirts. Most dressed in more modern styles, but a significant minority clothed themselves in the traditional yukata or even an informal kimono. When Minato and his assistant reached the rather plain but functional fountain at the open square, he almost expected to see an elaborately made-up geisha or two loitering around.

"Almost feels like we've stepped into some kind of historical drama, doesn't it?" Genma muttered, fiddling with the box of toothpicks that he always kept in his pocket.

"Yeah," Minato nodded and shifted the strap of his bag on his shoulder. _It's hard to imagine Kushina growing up in a place like this…_ "Do you know who we're supposed to be meeting here?"

"Someone from the gym," Genma shrugged.

Minato raised an eyebrow. "No name?"

"Whoever-it-is will find us," Genma said.

The town square was ringed by expensive shops, little cafés, and a few offices. There was plenty of space for small casual pokémon battles, or festival celebrations. But aside from some patrons sitting at outdoor tables outside of a few little restaurants, the square was empty, almost barren. No one appeared to be looking for them or ready to greet them.

Minato sat on the edge of the fountain and gazed into the rippling water. The fountain was little more than a medium-sized circular pond with a single spout of water spraying heavenward at its center. The only decoration that he could see were little blue tiles set into the outer wall of the fountain pool that formed simplistic interlocking spiral or whirlpool patterns.

Spirals seemed to be the main decorative motif of the whole town. If a building or sign had any decoration at all, it would be some kind of swirl. Some of the designs seemed to evoke waves, others tempestuous winds, but most appeared to be whirlpools.

"Hey, you guys lost?"

Minato stopped spacing out on the white spray of the fountain and turned to see who was speaking to them. Two men had approached him and Genma—one broad-shouldered with dark hair, a goatee, and a scarred cheek, and the other slighter in build with shaggy dirty-blond hair and a black, horizontal, line-like tattoo stretched across his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose.

"No," Genma answered. "We're just waiting for a guide from the local gym. Would either of you gentlemen be him?"

"Nah, we don't work for the gym," the blond tattooed man snorted. "What are you waiting for a guide for? If you've come to challenge old Kenjiro, you find your own way to the gym."

"My friend here," Genma hooked his thumb in Minato's direction, "is scheduled for a televised exhibition match tomorrow. So it's not the usual sort of challenge."

Both men turned and stared at Minato, looking rather shocked.

"I don't believe it," the tattooed man muttered. "The rumors were true. Kenjiro sold out."

Minato frowned slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

"Old Kenjiro thinks that the way that other countries leagues' turn pokémon battle into televised spectacles for the masses disgusting," the black-haired man with the goatee explained. "He's never allowed himself to be filmed while battling with his pokémon before, and he doesn't even like it when a challenging trainer brings friends along to watch the fight." He shook his head. "I'd heard that his clan's coffers were almost empty, but to think that he'd be desperate enough to violate his own beliefs like this…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Minato said sincerely. "I hope I can help him out a little with this fight."

"That's mighty nice of you," the tattooed blond grinned. Then he leaned over to whisper indiscreetly to his slightly taller companion. "I know a good bookie we can visit—this bet'll be a sure thing!"

"Shut up, Arata!" the black-haired man scowled. "He can hear us, you know?"

Minato couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed that they not only didn't recognize him, but they also appeared to be completely oblivious to his reputation and status as a national champion. The anonymity and underestimation was welcome, but a little surprising since there always seemed to be at least one person wherever he went that at least found him familiar these days.

"Tell me," Minato said. "I couldn't find much information on the local league before I set off, and I couldn't find the name of your national champion."

"That's because old Takeshi's dead," Arata informed him. "And good riddance! He was a nasty bastard."

"And no one has taken his place?" Genma asked incredulously.

"As Arata says, the old champion was a nasty bastard," the black-haired man shrugged. "Takeshi Kurohi didn't just defeat all who challenged him, he stomped them flat and kicked them when they were down. It got to be that trainers just stopped challenging him to avoid the humiliation of losing to him. The tournaments that led to the championship withered and broke down, and by the time that Takeshi died and the championship was open, no one was interested in taking it." He stroked at his whiskery chin thoughtfully. "And it probably didn't help that the two champions before Takeshi were Kurohi, too. Neither of them was defeated once they rose to power and abdicated their position to their protégés, so there hasn't been a champion that's really earned the seat in…oh…more than seventy years, at least."

"You and your useless trivia, Daichi," Arata sighed.

"So…the reason that there isn't a champion is because this Takeshi didn't train a disciple to take his place," Minato said slowly. "And no one else wants to try for the position because the championship has been held by a single family for so long, and because the last champion was so cruel, that no one dares dream of it any longer…is that it?"

"More or less," Daichi nodded.

"That's kind of sad," Genma remarked.

"It's just the way that things are," Arata shrugged and jammed his hands into his pockets. "And with Kenjiro Uzumaki around, who really needs a champion? Everyone thinks that he's tough enough to take over the job, but he doesn't want it."

"The Kurohi don't think so," Daichi reminded him.

"They don't count," Arata sniffed. "The Kurohi think they're all-that and that everyone else ought to lick their boots and like it!"

"Isn't this friend of yours a Kurohi?" Daichi asked. "Shun?"

"He's a black sheep," Arata replied. "He lacks the 'I'm-a-giant-dick' gene."

"And don't you work for a Kurohi?" Daichi pressed.

"Goro's not my immediate boss," Arata responded. "I almost never see the guy. And so long as I do my job and don't horribly screw something up, he'll pay me and leave me alone."

"Are you two entertaining our guests?"

A third local man arrived on the scene and was clearly older than any of them. He had dark wine-red hair pulled back in a loose short tail and threaded with a little white, a less than clean-shaven face, and dark blue-gray eyes. The newcomer didn't look the least bit feminine, but something about his appearance made Minato think of Kushina and the vague sense of dread in the pit of his stomach solidified a bit more.

"Hi, Kenshin!" Arata waved cheerfully. "Did you forget to shave today?"

"Arashi's been stealing my razor so it's gone dull," Kenshin replied.

"Fulfilling his duties as the annoying little brother I see," Arata nodded as if he approved.

Daichi lightly whacked him on the back of his head.

"I hope that these two haven't been giving you any trouble," Kenshin said, ignoring the other two locals.

"No, they've been quite informative," Minato responded.

"Well now that I'm here, they can go on about their business," Kenshin remarked.

Daichi caught the hint and started shoving Arata away. "Nice talking to you."

"Yeah, nice talking to you guys, whoever-you-are!" Arata agreed with a grin and a friendly wave.

"Well," Kenshin said once they were gone, "allow me to show you where the gym is, escort you to your hotel, and answer any questions that you have in-between."

"Sounds good to me," Minato agreed as he stood up.

"Lead on," Genma nodded.

Kenshin immediately struck out for one of the side streets. "The gym is outside of town and just offshore, so…"

* * *

><p>Shun sat on a bench across from his favorite candy shop and munched on strips of red licorice. His uncle had invited him along to see a kabuki play that afternoon, but he'd said that he was busy so he needed to lay low for a while lest his uncle find out that he'd told a little white lie. He had no interest in kabuki, but his uncle was a real fan of the traditional style of theater and always tried to get him to come along and catch a show or two.<p>

_At least Uncle Goro isn't a noh aficionado…those are ten times worse than any kabuki performance._

A length of licorice rope dangled from the side of his mouth as he contemplated the latest gossip. Normally he didn't pay much mind to what bored women and old men chattered about, but since encountering the mysterious Kushina Uzumaki he actually made himself listen to some of it out of curiosity. From what little he'd gotten out of Arata, he was sure that the whole town would end up talking about her.

But more people were complaining about all the foreigners that had started arriving late yesterday and continued this morning. Town residents were annoyed with how easily they got lost and how many boxes of electronic equipment they were lugging around. The only people pleased with their arrival were a few operators of small boats that had been hired to shuttle the foreigners out to the Uzumaki gym to set up cameras and other recording equipment.

Kushina's long absence, her supposedly drastically altered appearance, and her sudden arrival in the midst of another big event seemed to have left her low on the list of interesting gossip topics. Not many cared to speculate on the long-lost tomboy of the Uzumaki clan. A few people that he'd asked while on duty in his uncle's pub seemed convinced that she must be dead since her scandalous postcards had stopped coming. And when he'd described the woman that he'd met to them, they'd laughed and told him that he must've met some other Kushina that had married into the clan.

_Why it is that all of the few interesting women are taken?_ he wondered as he sucked on his candy to make it last longer. _The rest are nightmares that no man would want to tie himself to. Or they're boring._

"Hey there, shark-lover."

Shun grimaced glanced up to see one of his least favorite relatives had arrived. "Hello, Katsuro."

"Still preaching the virtues of your ugly dino-shark?" Katsuro sneered.

"I don't preach," Shun informed his teenage relative.

"Whatever," Katsuro shrugged. "I found me something a lot better than your precious gible—"

"Sharky's a gabite," Shun corrected.

"—A _real_ dragon," Katsuro continued and then set free something from a camouflage-patterned pokéball.

The pokémon that appeared was small and blue and stood on all-fours. Its neck and head were black, there was a black spike on its head, and a fringe of fur or maybe feathers covered its eyes. It didn't look particularly intimidating, but it was like nothing that Shun had ever seen before.

"What is it?" Shun asked.

"Hellraiser is a deino," Katsuro smirked. "He's a dark-dragon."

_What an ambitious name for something so small and harmless-looking,_ Shun thought. "Where did you get it?"

"From some stupid Safari Zone park in the Land of Grass," Katsuro answered, his smug attitude turning sour.

"Did something bad happen out there?" Shun wondered. _Is karma finally punishing you for being such a bully?_

"Some dumb blond kid claiming to be an Uzumaki robbed me," Katsuro snarled. "I told him that there was a pokémon that I was hunting and he went and stole it away from me and got all his little friends to back him up, so the park sided with him!"

"Too bad," Shun shrugged, not the least bit sympathetic to his relative's 'plight'.

Katsuro had always been big and strong for his age, and early on in life he'd learned how to throw his weight around to get what he wanted. Shun recalled hearing a story about how during the clan gathering when Katsuro had received his bagon he'd gotten in a fight with another cousin who'd wanted that particular bagon for himself and gotten away with giving the cousin a black eye. There were probably dozens of other incidents where Katsuro had done similar things with little or no reprimand or negative consequences, but Shun wasn't aware of the details. He'd never had much to do with the punk until he'd moved to Central Uzu, and he was one of the relatives that Shun did his best to avoid at all times.

"If that stupid shrimp ever dares show his face around here, he's going to be sorry," Katsuro growled.

"I'm sure that he will," Shun agreed and stood up from the bench. _Although I doubt he'll show up here. Not many people from the mainland ever have much reason to come out this way._

"I'll get that pokémon back," the teenage punk muttered to himself. "Somehow I'll do it…"

Shun left his distant cousin and his strange new dragon without a word. He wanted nothing to do with the bully's little obsession, and the less he knew the better. So he strolled towards the edge of town, away from the theater where his uncle was at, still chewing on the last of his licorice.

He ended up walking along the edge of the sea cliffs and staring out over the ocean. There were very few houses out this way so it was quiet and peaceful. The only locations of interest in this direction were Professor Utatane's lab and the Uzumaki's offshore gym.

_Sometimes I wish that I was born into a different family,_ Shun sighed. _The Furukawa seem to be all-around decent people, and the Akisame are about the same…_

The Kurohi paused when he caught sight of some figures up ahead. They were too far away for him to be sure, but one of them looked like Kenshin Uzumaki while the other two were unidentifiable. He hesitated before cautiously walking closer.

It soon became clear to him that the other two men were complete strangers. One man had a dark blue bandanna covering the top of his head and a toothpick or small stick in his mouth. The other stranger had messy bright blond hair the likes of which Shun had never seen before. Both men carried overnight bags and everything about them screamed 'foreign'.

"Any other questions?" Kenshin asked when Shun was close enough to hear over the low rumble of the crashing surf below.

"No, I think we've gone over everything I need to know," the blond man answered cheerfully.

"Can we find the hotel now?" the man with the toothpick asked tiredly.

"Was all this exercise too much for you, Genma?" the blond man chuckled.

"I don't enjoy hiking through the wilderness like you do, Minato," Genma replied.

"Wilderness?" Kenshin snorted and pointed inland towards the hills and the distant silhouette of Mount Spiral. "The wilderness is over there."

_Is Kenshin…giving them a tour?_ Shun wondered. _Why?_

"Well, let's go find the hotel," Minato smiled. "I…" He caught sight of Shun watching them and turned to face the Kurohi. "Hello. Who are you?"

"Shun Kurohi," he answered as he walked over. "I can't say that I've ever seen either of you before."

"I'm Minato Namikaze," the blond replied and gestured to his companion, "and this is my friend, Genma Shiranui."

"What brings you out this way?" Kenshin asked, a hint of wariness in his tone.

"Just out for a walk," Shun shrugged. "Don't tell my uncle that you saw me out here doing nothing. He thinks I'm busy." His gaze shifted back to the strangers. "What brings you out here?"

"Oh, I'm here to battle with Kenjiro Uzumaki," Minato said. "Genma's just tagging along."

"Ah," Shun nodded in understanding. "Good luck with that." _You're going to need it…_

* * *

><p>Inaho was in a terrible mood. The second ferry ride to this island had been blessedly shorter, but Uzu Town was a fresh kind of hell. She hadn't been able to get a hold of any travel agency that could arrange hotel reservations at her final destination so she'd spent all afternoon looking for a room for her stay. But all the other reporters and cameramen from all the bigger news networks and papers had already taken all the rooms in the inland hotel, which left her to visit the lower-class hotels by the warehouses and docks near the harbor.<p>

Now, after having been turned away by two other desk clerks at the nicest-looking dockside hotels, she was facing down the front desk man of the _Harbor Motel_. He was a fat, sweaty man, with squinty eyes and an egg-shaped bald head. And she found him to be none too bright.

"You want to know the _daily_ rate?" he asked stupidly.

"Yes," Inaho almost growled. "I'll be here for a few days at least, so I need to know the daily rate."

He blinked a few times. "But nobody wants the daily rate. They're only here for a few hours…"

"Well I want the daily rate," Inaho said through clenched teeth.

"…I'll have to look it up," the man told her and started shuffling through worn-out book and ratty-looking papers.

Inaho leaned against the front counter with her bulky, heavy bags, and ran through some mental calming exercises. She'd wandered all over town with her clothes, toiletries, and cameras weighing her down and she was tired. And the locals had all been less than helpful. Every time she'd asked someone for directions they'd been so annoyed with her and a few had been downright rude—

"Hey there, hot stuff," a stranger slurred almost in her ear and a hand brushed against her rear. "How much f'r a date?"

She whirled around and roughly shoved the grizzled man away from her. He looked like some kind of sailor that had just come in from a long voyage and had been enjoying his leave. He stank of smoke and booze and was clearly very drunk.

"I'm not a prostitute!" Inaho snapped. "Buzz off!"

"'Course ya are," the sailor leered. "Y're here ain't cha?"

"I'm a reporter and photographer!" Inaho hissed. "This is the only damn hotel with rooms left!"

He laughed uproariously. "Y're a _woman_!"

"So what?" Inaho frowned.

"Ye can't be a reporter," he snorted. "Tha's a man's job."

"What century are you living in?" she sneered. "I'm a reporter and if you don't leave me alone I'm going to get one of my stiletto heels from my bag and I'm going to shove it so far up your—"

"Y're a feisty one!" the sailor chuckled.

Inaho was ready to explode. "Why you…!"

"I found the daily rates!" the clerk said triumphantly.

"Y'll be here for _days_?" the drunken sailor boggled. "_Wow_!"

"Make this idiot leave me alone or I'm complaining to the police!" Inaho snapped at the clerk.

The chubby man blinked and looked past her at the sailor and frowned a little. "Sanmaru? She's not a hooker. Go outside and find one if you want, but if you keep harassing my guest I'll have to black-list you."

"Aw," the sailor groaned and reluctantly staggered out of the front office.

Steamed, Inaho almost tore through the paper with her pen as she started filling out the forms that the clerk had dug up so that she could get a room key. She was having a hard time remembering the last time that she had been so insulted. There was no way that she was going to do a complimentary travel piece on this rat-hole of a town!

"So…you're a reporter?" the clerk hesitantly asked as he looked at his selection of available keys.

"Yes," she half-hissed. "I'm out here to see the exhibition match at the local gym. …Where _is _the gym anyway? I've been all over town and I didn't see it."

"It's not _in_ town," the clerk chuckled. "It's east of the harbor on a tiny island about a mile offshore."

Inaho froze. _So…I have to ride __**another**__ boat there…and back?_

_ I really need to invest in bigger flying pokémon than Chatty and Hooty…_

* * *

><p>It was dark out when Kushina stumbled home. Her little survey that day had been a total bust. A few fishermen had passed along rumors, but they'd led nowhere. She had passed through a few rain squalls in the evening so she was soaking wet, tired, and incredibly cranky.<p>

"You look like hell," Kenshin remarked when she dragged herself into the kitchen.

"Thanks," she growled and pulled a can of soup out of the pantry.

"Bad day?" he asked.

"Yes," Kushina muttered and started looking for a pot. "I am going to eat this soup, dry off, and go to bed."

"Sounds like a good plan," her oldest brother chuckled. "Dad's opponent showed up today."

"Good for him," she grunted as she attacking the soup with a can-opener.

"He seems friendly, but not terribly impressive," Kenshin commented.

Kushina made some inarticulate sound in her throat as she poured the soup into the pot and started heating it.

"The match will be tomorrow at 10 AM, if you're interested in watching," he told her.

"Mmph," she grumbled and stared at the soup, willing it to start boiling so that she knew it was warm enough to eat.

"Well, good night," Kenshin said and took his papers so that she was left alone with her late dinner. "See you in the morning."

She didn't answer him.

_Food and sleep, food and sleep, food and sleep…_


	10. Part X

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part X_

Kushina was so worn out from the previous day that she had a very hard time getting up in the morning. By the time that she'd crawled out of the pull-out couch-bed, eaten breakfast, and stumbled into the shower, she was the only one left in the house. The warm water almost put her back to sleep and she drowsily took her time in brushing and braiding her damp hair. But when she shuffled out of the bathroom and took a good look at the kitchen clock, she finally woke up.

"Nine-fifty?" she choked. "Oh god, I'm going to be late!"

_Why did Daddy have to schedule this fight so early?_ she mentally complained as she sprinted out of the house, almost forgetting her pokémon collection in her haste. _Noon would be so much better than ten in the morning! Argh, I'm going to miss the start!_

She ran down the zigzagging path down the sea cliff so fast that she was amazed that she didn't fall or twist her ankle. When she reached the flat part of the beach, which was starting to shrink as the tide started to come in, she almost ran into the surf before she could stop because of all the momentum she'd built up. She set Tsunami free and struggled to get her request out as she gasped for breath.

"I need…to get there…" she pointed to the tiny island that hosted the family gym. "As soon as…possible."

Her gyarados bellowed and lowered her head so that Kushina could climb aboard.

_Urgh, what a morning,_ she wheezed as Tsunami made a speedy beeline for the gym. _And I don't even know who Daddy's going to be fighting! I wish I had remembered to ask Kenshin last night…_

Her water serpent made good time and she hit the small dock running. She scrambled up the stairs and dashed through the main doors. Once inside, she slowed to power-walking speed so that she would hopefully draw less attention going in late.

However, once she'd made it past the smaller secondary battle pools and all the way to the back where the giant main battle pool was located, she found that the fight hadn't yet started. A few cameramen seemed to be having trouble setting up the low-powered mini-force fields that would keep their equipment safe from stay pokémon attacks. Feeling immensely relieved, she slowed down to a calm walk and scanned the bleachers for a good place to sit.

_Of course they had to set these things up so that Mito-sama's picture gets blocked,_ she pouted when she noticed their arrangement. _I guess the founder's picture is the more important one…but I love Mito-sama's image best. You can actually see her face, while the founder has his back to everyone._

The stacked wooden benches were mostly filled with out-of-towners. There were camera and sound people and photographers sitting or standing at the lowest rows while reporters sat about mid-level with notepads or small recording devices at the ready. And at the very top sat her family, a few friends, and a small handful of other assorted local spectators.

With all the chatter in town about today, she'd expected at least a few more people to show up. But it looked like it was mostly people eager to see her father's shame at having to resort to this for money had come out. Kushina gave them a wide berth as she headed for a spot between her family and friends.

"Hey, you made it!" Arata grinned. "You took so long we thought that you weren't going to come."

"I just slept in," Kushina muttered and sat next to Daichi.

"Lucky for you that things are running behind schedule," Daichi remarked.

"I hope they start soon," Shun said from just behind Arata.

"Yeah, I wanna win my bet," Arata said, bouncing a little in his seat.

"You bet on this fight?" Kushina asked.

"Sure," her tattooed friend nodded. "We ran into the challenger yesterday. He's just a pretty face. Your pops will make him cry."

"He's supposed to be good," Daichi reminded him. "That's why all these foreigners want to televise it."

"Yeah, well there's a reason that old Kenjiro only hands out a couple of badges every year, and that's not because he's picky about accepting challenges," Arata retorted.

"Kushina, you're here!" Akane squealed and carefully shuffled over to sit on Kushina's open side. "I thought that you weren't going to come."

"Yeah, I made it," Kushina shrugged, wishing that her cousin had stayed sitting by her mother.

"The challenger is so handsome," Akane babbled, clasping her hands underneath her chin. "I hope that Uncle Kenjiro invites him over for lunch."

"You think he'll be your prince charming?" Kushina asked dryly, struggling not to roll her eyes.

"I hope so," her cousin giggled and blushed. Then Akane pointed towards the base of the founder's image. "Look, there he is!"

Kushina squinted at the man standing on the far side of the main battle pool where he studied the tile mosaic.

_Huh, that sort of looks like…_

The man turned to speak to Kenshin, giving her a view of his profile—

She blanched.

_Oh. My. God._

* * *

><p>Inaho was finally feeling less queasy as she impatiently waited for the technical problems to be ironed out so that the match could start. The ride over to this awful gym had been a new level of nightmare. She'd caught a ride in a small motorboat, barely bigger than a dingy, and she swore that the damn thing had almost capsized two dozen times. Even skipping breakfast she'd managed to puke something up, and her only consolation was that she had been riding with some no-name cameramen instead of some of the moderately well-known sports commentators that had come to witness this battle.<p>

She lifted her favorite camera to her eye and used the zoom to get a good look at Minato Namikaze as he stood on the far side of the battlefield/pool. He was wearing his usual battle attire: a loose unbuttoned white shirt with a red flame pattern along the bottom over a tighter-fitting long-sleeved black shirt, and loose blue jeans. Only her professionalism kept her from squealing like a fan-girl now that she was finally going to watch one of his pokémon battles in person.

_This is going to be so awesome!_

Lowering her camera, she glanced behind her up at the higher rows of seats and frowned in disgust. There were almost no local townies present to witness the battle even though there was plenty of room for thirty or forty of them. And most of the ones that had showed up looked bored.

_You'd think they'd be more excited to see a master in action. Really, how often does a celebrated national champion come all the way out here to a crap-hole like this? Or maybe they think it'll be boring because this gym leader is a washed-up old man…_

Inaho shrugged and fidgeted with the still camera in her lap and continued waiting and praying that this would make her suffering all worth it.

* * *

><p>Minato had been surprised at how intricately decorated the interior of the gym was. All gyms had some kind ornamentation that invoked the gym's 'theme' or the leader's personal tastes, but the art here was unique. Every wall painting, every small sculpture, every tile mosaic was different from all the others, like they represented actual trainers from history.<p>

He hoped to get a better look at all of it after he'd battled, but the image that really caught his attention was the enormous tile mosaic that filled the wall on one side of the main battle area at the back of the gym. The tiny colored tiles formed an almost pixel-like image of a trainer dressed in an ancient costume with a billowing cloak that was facing almost completely away from the viewer. And arrayed around him were several monsters: a kingdra, a lapras, a kabutops, an omastar, and a gyarados…that happened to be a vibrant shade of red.

_How interesting,_ he mused, brushing his fingertips against the pokéballs hooked to his belt.

The picture had seen better days, thought. Some tiles had been knocked loose, leaving pale patches of grout and bare wall. And there were even a few cracks on one corner. Years of misaimed pokémon attacks had obviously taken their toll—

"Does this mural interest you?" Kenshin Uzumaki asked as he walked over to stand by Minato's side.

"All of the artwork I've seen so far has interested me," Minato replied. "What can you tell me about this one while we still have time?"

"Well, this was commissioned to represent the founder of our clan," Kenshin explained. "Whatever records that mentioned his name have been long lost, but his reputation is the stuff of legends. He tamed all these creatures in the time before even the earliest apricorn-based pokéballs were developed and settled himself and his family in the Land of Whirlpools before it even existed as a nation. He first laid claim to this tiny island for use in formal challenges from trainers of other clans. And it is because of his unique gyarados that most men of my family seek out magikarp to train."

"Fascinating," Minato murmured with a nod as he gazed up at the mosaic again. "Are all the pokémon and trainers decorating this gym figures from local history?"

"Yes, I don't know all their stories, but the leader that rebuilt the gym after it burned down wanted to celebrate all his notable ancestors in a way that would last," Kenshin told him.

"Hmm…are the bleachers covering up anything?" Minato wondered.

"Yes, there's—" Kenshin paused and glanced over at the camera crews on the other side of the pool. "It looks like they're finally ready. I'll be refereeing this match, so come with me to meet my father."

Minato followed the Uzumaki man around one end of the pool to meet with the old gym leader on the side with the spectators and cameras.

His first impression of Kenjiro Uzumaki was of old battered but unmovable stone. His hair was almost entirely white and his face was lined and unreadable with gray eyes that revealed nothing. But he was still strong with broad shoulders and his grip was firm when he shook Minato's hand.

"Don't expect any special treatment from me," was all Kenjiro said.

"I wouldn't want any," Minato replied, slightly puzzled.

Kenjiro gave a single sharp nod and walked off to his end of the battlefield.

_Okay, then,_ Minato thought with a mental shrug and headed for his place.

The battling area was essentially a giant pool at least as long as an Olympic-style pool and much wider. At the center was a solid, flat-topped, concrete island for pokémon unable to swim or fly to stand upon. And scattered around the water field were smaller floating platforms anchored to the pool bottom by chains. The set-up clearly favored water pokémon, which definitely upped the difficulty level for trainers making a challenge.

When Minato stepped inside his painted rectangle, and Kenjiro did the same on the far side of the pool, Kenshin stood at the midpoint on the side with the audience and called out the rules.

"This will be a full battle with no substitutions. If a pokémon is recalled, it is disqualified. Pokémon will battle until they are knocked out or are determined to be unable to continue. The trainer whose pokémon have all been eliminated loses."

Kenshin raised a flag up over his head, and then snapped it down.

"Begin!"

Kenjiro wasted no time in selecting his first creature and unleashing it into the battle pool. A massive male gyarados burst out of the water with an angry roar. It had a broken fang, several scars on its armored blue hide, tattered fins, and one of the tines of its three-pronged horn had snapped off—clear signs that it had had a long career and taken hard hits. The sea serpent was an impressive and intimidating sight.

In that moment, Minato felt cool and calm. All the anxiety that had buzzed in the back of his mind about Kushina and the nature of her relation to the gym leader that he was fighting vanished. He was in the zone and his thoughts were solely on the battle.

He fired his own first choice under the surface of the water in a burst of white light. Seconds later his own gyarados, Akai, exploded from the pool with a roar of his own. He was slightly smaller than Kenjiro's gyarados, much younger, and unscarred. But his armored scales glowed like bloody rubies in the mixture of natural light from the windows and artificial lights from the roof and cameras.

_ It's debut time…_

* * *

><p>Kushina sat speechless along with everyone, but for a different reason than the rest of the crowd. The reporters were all stunned because Minato had never used Akai in an official battle before, and the locals were shocked at seeing a red gyarados like the first Uzumaki's in the flesh. She, however, was struck with panic-laced horror at Minato's very presence in close proximity to her family, especially her father.<p>

_I suppose it's a good thing that I haven't told anyone here what my fiancé's name is,_ she thought weakly.

Then the silence was broken by reporters and commentators frantically speaking into microphones and recorders. The people surrounding Kushina remained completely silent as they stared in disbelief. And since her father wasn't ordering Kraken to attack right away, Kushina took that to mean that he was just as blown-away by the rare beast as the local spectators.

_I never told him about the founder or any of my clan's history,_ Kushina thought as she watched Akai's _intimidating_ aura clash with Kraken's. _So there's no way that Minato knew that using Akai would be so stunning… Maybe it will impress Daddy._

With her father silent, Minato made the first move.

"Akai, _ice fang_!" he called out, his voice echoing through the vast chamber.

The red gyarados dove under the surface of the water, surged to the far side of the pool, and resurfaced next to Kraken and latched onto the older gyarados' neck with subzero fangs. Kraken snarled as he was startled out of his own shock at seeing such a radically different example of his own kind and struggled to shake Akai loose. When Akai stubbornly hung on, Kraken swam towards one side of the pool and bashed Akai against it until the red gyarados was knocked off.

"Kraken," her father bellowed, "use _ice beam_."

The scarred gyarados fired a crackling blue beam of frigid energy that struck Akai on the belly scales like a hammer.

"Akai, _thunderbolt_."

The red sea serpent shook off the freezing attack and his three-pronged forehead horn glowed and fired a tremendous bolt of electricity. Kraken roared in pain from the extremely effective attack, but he didn't fall. Once the brief electrocution was over, Kraken looked ready to eat Akai alive.

"_Hyper beam_," her father ordered.

Kraken opened his massive jaws wide and vomited a powerful beam of energy into Akai. The red gyarados was knocked almost completely across the battle pool by the punishing blast. And when Akai finally came to a stop, it was very clear that the younger gyarados could no longer continue the fight.

"The gyarados is unable to battle," Kenshin announced as Minato drew Akai back into the pokéball with the red return laser.

_He did pretty good, considering that he had to fight Kraken,_ Kushina mused as she watched the scarred old gyarados try to catch his breath after expending so much energy on his _hyper beam_.

The next pokémon that Minato sent into battle was Kiroi. The female raichu appeared on one of the floating platforms and immediately hopped from platform to platform towards Kraken. It was a sensible choice, but Kushina cringed all the same.

_Kiroi better strike hard and fast because Daddy knows just what to do with electric pokémon…_

* * *

><p>Minato had hoped that Akai would've been able to defeat at least one opponent, but his gyarados had done well for its first time in an official battle. Perhaps if the <em>ice fang<em> had made the other gyarados flinch, or if Akai had managed to squeeze off a second _thunderbolt _attack the result would have been different. But Akai was out and now it was time for his raichu to take charge of the situation.

"Kiroi, _thunderbolt_," he called.

The raichu reached the central concrete island and paused there to fire off a bolt of sizzling electricity at the wheezing scarred gyarados. The electric attack did even greater damage than Akai's had. But the gym leader's gyarados withstood it…barely.

"Kraken, use _earthquake_!" Kenjiro instructed.

The gyarados sluggishly dove to the bottom of the pool to drum on the concrete with its body to make the whole building shake.

"Kiroi," Minato hurriedly ordered, "_discharge_!"

His electric rodent splashed into the pool and electrified all the water in an explosion of yellow light. When the blinding glare faded, Kiroi climbed back onto the concrete island and waited. Moments later the old scarred gyarados floated to the surface, unconscious.

"Kraken is unable to battle," Kenshin announced as the sea serpent was removed from the field.

The gym leader's face was unreadable on his loss and he simple unleashed his next beast. A massive walrus-like walrein rematerialized on one of the floating platforms closest to the gym leader. It was huge and heavy with the longest tusks that Minato had ever seen on a walrein.

"Iceberg," Kenjiro rumbled, "_swagger_."

The walrein puffed up into a proud, showy pose and bellowed. Kiroi found the walrein's behavior insulting and swiftly became enraged. The raichu's attack was boosted by its anger, but the emotional surge also briefly confused the rodent. She charged the walrus monster but forgot that the battlefield was a huge pool and she slipped off the edge concrete island and flailed in the water instead of properly swimming.

"Now, _earthquake_," the gym leader commanded.

The walrein dove off the floating platform and sank to the bottom of the pool like the gyarados had before it.

"Kiroi, _discharge_!" Minato yelled, but his raichu failed to hear him in her confusion and only was able to climb back on the solid central island before the walrein struck.

The whole building started to shake a little, but the most intense motion was focused on the battlefield. Damaging ground vibrations made the floating platforms sway and slosh in the water and the rock-solid concrete island bucked and bashed Kiroi around. When the tremors had subsided the raichu had snapped out of confusion, but had been hurt badly.

"Kiroi, use _thunderbolt_," Minato ordered.

As soon as the walrein surfaced to receive a new command, his raichu struck it with a powerful blast of lightning.

"Iceberg, _ice ball_."

The walrus monster shrugged off the lightning strike and sank below the surface of the water. Moments later it reappeared in a burst of spray, curled up and encased in a thick shell of ice. The solid ice boulder crashed into Kiroi and then rolled off the concrete island and splashed back into the pool.

"Hit it with _iron tail_ when it comes back," Minato instructed.

Again the ice-encased walrein exploded from the pool, the ice shell now thicker and more damaging as it rolled over the island in the opposite direction of its original strike. Kiroi's lightning-whip tail stiffened and took on a metallic sheen, but when she swung it her timing was off. She missed hitting the ice-boulder by little more than an inch as the walrein bounced and struck her before sinking into the water once more.

_She can't take another hit from that,_ Minato knew. "Give it a _thunder wave_."

The next time the walrein burst from the water, covered in even more ice, Kiroi dove to the side and blasted it with a burst of paralyzing static. Now with its mobility seriously impaired, the walrein bounced out of control and shattered its icy shell. It sluggishly, stiffly turned to face its raichu foe, still ready to fight.

"_Aurora beam_," the gym leader commanded.

"_Thunderbolt_!" Minato countered at the same moment.

The weary raichu launched another electrical strike, but the walrein withstood it and managed to respond with the shimmering cold colors of an _aurora beam_ blast. The ice attack was beautiful, but powerful, and it was just too much. Kiroi collapsed and didn't rise again.

"The raichu is unable to continue battling," Kenshin declared.

Minato swallowed a sigh as he brought Kiroi back to her ball to rest.

_This guy is definitely not the average gym leader. Why hasn't he been appointed to be the national champion? So far it seems like he'd be good for it._

To combat the watery ice monster, Minato elected to send out his poliwrath, Gama. The muscular amphibian locked eyes with the half-paralyzed walrus for a tense second. Then Gama dropped into a ready stance.

"Gama, _focus blast_."

The poliwrath held his white hands apart in front of his swirl-covered chest and began concentrating blue energy into a sphere. Once it was about the size of a small beach ball, Gama leapt towards the shivering walrein and then hurled it. The attack was less accurate than _aura sphere_, but it was much stronger and the paralyzed walrus couldn't move enough to dodge it.

"Iceberg is unable to battle," Kenshin declared after the walrein toppled over.

Again the gym leader's expression remained stony and unreadable, giving no hint of anger or frustration, as he set loose another beast. His third monster was a tentacruel that floated in the pool, nearly completely submerged. The poisonous jellyfish almost seemed to be asleep as it drifted on the surface of the water, but it was surely an act meant to lull its opponent into a false sense of security.

"Man-O-War, _supersonic_."

The jellyfish lurched out of the water just enough to fire a blast of high-pitched confusion-inducing sound, but Gama hopped off the floating platform that he'd been standing on and hid underwater.

"Use _mud bomb_, Gama," Minato commanded, raising his voice a little to be sure that the poliwrath could hear him.

Gama popped up moments later much closer to the giant jellyfish and fired a hard-packed ball of mud from his mouth into the tentacruel's head.

"Man-O-War, use _poison jab_."

The tentacruel surged at Gama and struck at the fighting amphibian with dozens of poison-oozing tentacles, tagging its foe several times.

"Gama, _body slam_."

The poliwrath dove down near the bottom of the pool and then rocketed back up into the air before crashing down on the tentacruel.

"_Sludge wave,_" the gym leader ordered.

Dark-colored poison exploded from the tentacruel in all directions and swamped the poliwrath. The amphibian back-stroked away from the contaminated water, but from the tinge he could see in Gama's skin Minato knew that his monster had been poisoned. He needed to end things quickly before the poison made his frog faint.

"Gama, use _hypnosis_."

The poliwrath sank under the water to be at eye-level with the half-submerged jellyfish and the spiral on his belly started to twirl. The tentacruel tried to move away and not look, but Gama made sure to stay directly in front of it. In moments the poisonous jellyfish was unconscious and slowly sinking towards the bottom of the pool.

"And finish it with _dynamic punch_!" Minato shouted.

Normally _dynamic punch_ was one of the most inaccurate moves a pokémon could learn. The user was committed the moment it powered up its fist and charged and there was no changing direction, so the target usually had little trouble dodging it. But with the tentacruel asleep, there was no way that Gama could miss, and the damage and resulting confusion would be just what he needed.

Gama's punch was so explosive that the tentacruel was knocked out of the pool, over the gym leader's head, and almost through a window. The terrific blow woke the jellyfish up, but it was confused and kept bouncing into the wall instead of slithering back into the pool. And in very short order the tentacruel knocked itself out.

"Man-O-War has been eliminated," Kenshin called out.

_Three down,_ Minato thought as he watched poor Gama try to catch his breath as the poison slowly sapped his strength, _three to go…_

The fourth pokémon that the gym leader set against him was a hulking blastoise. The bipedal turtle was probably the man's oldest pokémon and various scrapes and scuffs on its shell proved that it had been in many battles. It locked eyes with the huffing and puffing poliwrath and smirked a little.

"Tank, _hydro pump_," Kenjiro commanded.

Minato almost smiled. He was sure that the old gym leader had intended to finish Gama off in one blow. But Gama's ability was _water absorb_ and the torrent of water that was fired from the blastoise's cannons boosted the poliwrath's health instead of reducing it.

_That's bought us a little extra time; now to put it to good use._ "Gama, give it a _body slam_."

His poliwrath slammed down on the blastoise's shell, but the turtle absorbed the shock with little damage and no paralysis, which Minato had hoped a bit for.

"Tank, _rapid spin_."

The blastoise lurched forward, tucked its limbs and cannons into its shell, and it spun through the air, battering Gama onto the solid concrete center island.

"Gama, _hypnosis_," Minato called.

"Tank, _skull bash_," Kenjiro countered.

The poliwrath's spiral was just starting to twirl hypnotically when the blastoise lowered his head to charge his attack.

"Use, _focus blast_ Gama—"

The tank-like turtle raced towards the muscular frog and buried its head into the poliwrath's gut and sent the fighting frog skipping across the pool. The poliwrath disappeared under the surface of the water and stayed there for so long that Kenshin was about to declare Gama unable to continue. But with an explosive splash Gama burst from the water behind the blastoise and hurled a _focus blast_ orb right between the water cannons. The force of the blow knocked the blastoise flat to the concrete and it almost skidded into the pool.

"Tank, _tackle_," Kenjiro ordered.

The giant turtle quickly got back to its feet and dashed into the poliwrath, knocking Gama off his feet. The fighting frog tried to stand up again, but collapsed on the edge of the center island. All the damage that he'd taken combined with the poison in his system had taken him down.

"The poliwrath is unable to battle," Kenshin announced.

_All his monsters are old and tough, and they've been well-trained to cover their weaknesses,_ Minato reflected as he briefly debated on who to use next. _They sort of remind me of some of Oonoki's beasts. Kenjiro must have to hold back a lot to give out any badges to young trainers that challenge him._

After a moment's hesitation, he chose Hana to take on the gym leader's blastoise. The water pokémon surely knew some attacks that could overwhelm his venusaur, but it seemed an appropriate match-up and he had faith in Hana's power. So he set loose his grass monster and watched as the large monster bounded from drifting platform to platform until she reached the concrete island where the blastoise waited.

"Alright, Hana, _petal dance_!"

_Let's cut this turtle down to size…_


	11. Part XI

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XI_

Kushina hunched forward on the edge of her seat and chewed at the inside of her cheek as she watched Tank try to block Hana's punishing _petal dance_ with a freezing _ice beam_. So far the blastoise was holding off the blizzard of pink petals, but it couldn't last much longer. If the _ice beam _ran out before the _petal dance_, Tank would take a punishing hit.

_I knew Daddy's pokémon were strong, but now that I have something to compare them to…_ She fisted her hands so tightly that her short nails dug painfully into her palms. _Minato's going to have to work for this win. He still has to face down Nautilus and Ryuujin._

_ Gah! This is awful! Who am I supposed to cheer for?_

There hadn't been many opportunities for her to watch her father battle with his pokémon, but when she'd caught a chance to watch she had always cheered for him, even when she'd been annoyed with him. He was her father and he was family and most of the time (before Aunt Asuka and Akane had moved in, at least) she'd thought he was really cool. Habit itched at her to throw her silent support behind her father, even though she was exceptionally irritated with him over the way he dealt with her letters.

Minato, on the other hand, had always been easy to cheer for. He was free of most of the silly ideas that Uzu men seemed to have about women. He was her friend, her lover, the father of her child, and her fiancé. And she was probably the only "local" who would be rooting for him for purely positive reasons.

_It's not like I can cheer for both of them to win—_

Hana's dense _petal dance_ overwhelmed Tank's _ice beam_ defense and the turtle briefly disappeared from sight in a tempest of pink. The blossom storm petered out and one of Hana's vines groped around the base of her plant, retrieved a little persim berry, and shoved it in her wide mouth before fatigue-induced confusion set in. Tank had been bowled over by the _petal dance_ and was busy swinging his limbs and withdrawing and extending his cannons to build up enough rocking motion to get back on his feet.

The blastoise had just rolled forward to his feet—

"Hana," Minato called, "_power whip_."

The venusaur twined two of her six vines together into a doubly-thick lash that glowed with power and she cracked it like a massive whip, striking Tank straight between the eyes in a clear critical hit. Tank stood stock still for a tense moment before his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled forward with a crash. A move like that in one of Minato's usual matches would've elicited excited cheers, or maybe even boos if his opponent was a crowd favorite, but aside from the dull chatter of the reporters and commentators, the spectators were silent.

"Tank is unable to battle," Kenshin declared.

_So will it be Ryuujin next, or…_

The reporter briefly fell silent at the sight of her father's next pokémon before redoubling their half-whispered commentaries into their microphones or recording devices.

_…Nautilus._

* * *

><p>Minato eyed the omastar rather curiously. It seemed to be an odd choice since both its types were weak to Hana's grass power. Perhaps Kenjiro had hoped to startle him with the extremely rare pokémon that even trainers such as himself had difficulty acquiring, or he had some secret strategy tucked up his sleeve. If he'd hoped to intimidate Minato, he would've been better off using a kabutops since he was intimately familiar of what that species was capable of…<p>

_I wonder where exactly he got that, though._

"Nautilus, _blizzard_," Kenjiro commanded.

The ancient cephalopod stretched its tentacles wide, spread the for parts of its beak-like mouth open, an exhaled a frigid blast of howling wind full of stinging chunks of ice. The concrete island was the largest solid part of the battlefield, but there still wasn't much room to dodge the powerful attack and the omastar happened to be blocking the closest of the floating platforms. Hana managed to avoid taking the full force of the _blizzard_ but the glancing blow hurt enough and left a few chunks of ice on her left flank and left-most fern frond.

"Shake it off, Hana!" Minato called out. "_Razor leaf_."

"_Protect_," the gym leader countered.

Hana gave a shake to knock off the bits of snow and ice as well as fire a swarm of razor-sharp leaves at her foe. But the omastar had withdrawn into its spiked spiral shell, protecting it from any damage. Once the leaf assault was over, it popped back out and clacked its sharp beak menacingly.

"Nautilus, _ancient power_."

The central island was decorated with a few small piles of rocks and the omastar plucked a small boulder from one with its tentacles, infused it with a bit of rock energy, and hurled it into the trunk-like stem of Hana's flower. Excess energy that hadn't gone into the boulder washed over the squid-like monster, boosting its speed, strength, special powers, and defensive capabilities.

"Hana, _earthquake_," Minato instructed.

His venusaur reared up on her back legs and then crashed down with tremendous force that made the island ripple like water and knocked the omastar over.

"Use _muddy water_, Nautilus," the gym leader ordered.

The omastar tottered upright and summoned a wave to swamp the island, much like _surf,_ except the water was dark with silt and grit from the bottom of the pool and it didn't crest as high. The water attack didn't do much damage but the dirty water got into Hana's eyes and made her squint and blink a lot, reducing her accuracy.

"_Sludge bomb_, Hana!"

Her flower twitched then fired a blob of brownish-purple poison several feet into the air before it fell victim to gravity and splattered down on the omastar, and from the sickly sheen its blue skin took on, it was poisoned from the contact. The resilient fossil monster was now wheezing and its thinner tentacles now dragged on the ground. One more solid hit, with the aid of the poison, would probably do it in.

"Nautilus," Kenjiro said, "_scald_."

The omastar cracked open its beak and fired a narrow, steaming-hot blast of water that struck Hana on the forehead. It didn't do much damage, but the temperature made her bellow in pain. And then, from the way that she flinched and tossed her head, he could tell that she'd developed a burn.

_Damn it,_ Minato cursed as he swallowed a sigh. _I thought that only Mei Terumi's monsters could pull off that move_.

"Hana," he said aloud, "use _vine whip_."

All six of the venusaur's vines extended from the flowering plant on her back and delivered stinging lashes to the hard-shelled squid.

"Nautilus, _blizzard_."

The omastar attempted to produce a second concentrated snowstorm, but the poison overcame it and it sank limply onto its side.

"Nautilus is unable to battle," Kenshin called out, his voice cracking slightly.

Even though he was down to his last pokémon, the gym leader's expression was as neutral and unreadable as ever. His posture was relaxed and when he called out commands to his beasts his tone was steady and strong. It made Minato wonder if the man played poker.

Then Kenjiro's final monster materialized in the pool. A man-sized blue seahorse with twig-like antlers sprouting from its skull bobbed tranquilly in the water. The water dragon studied Hana with a detachment that bordered on boredom.

"Hana, _synthesis_—"

"Ryuujin, _ice beam_."

While Hana frantically gathered light energy to replenish some of the health sapped by the omastar and her burn, the kingdra took its time in aiming very carefully. Then, while it was still floating at the far end of the pool, it fired the crackling beam of freezing cold at the venusaur. Hana rocked from the impact and almost collapsed from the tremendous damage.

_It looks like that thing has the __**sniper**__ ability,_ Minato noted. "Hana, close in and use _power whip_."

Using the floating platforms like stepping stones, Hana bounded closer to the kingdra, struggling against her fatigue.

"_Brine,_" the gym leader ordered.

The kingdra fired a blast of extremely salty water from its narrow, tube-like mouth just as Hana was close enough to strike with her _power whip_. Her punishing lash struck at the same time as the _brine_ slammed into her flank. While the kingdra flinched from the strike, Hana collapsed as the salt seeped in through the damaged parts of her skin and did double the damage.

"The venusaur is unable to battle," Kenshin announced.

Hana was so close to the other end of the battle pool that it took a moment for the return laser to lock onto her body and draw her back into her ball.

_Well,_ he mused as he eyed the giant seahorse. _The best way to beat a dragon like that…_

Minato plucked and ultra-ball from his belt and unleashed his dragonite, Ryuu.

_…Is with another dragon!_

* * *

><p>Kenshin hissed through his teeth at the sight of the mighty dragon as it took flight to hover over the battle pool on wings that seemed too small and flimsy to lift its bulk. This fight was nothing like the challenges that he usually oversaw. His father never lost the first fight, let alone had his line-up whittled down to one.<p>

When a new young trainer would come to the gym, seeking the spiral badge, his father would beat them, give them advice to improve, and invite them back in a few months time. If they were brave and determined enough to come back again, he would again hold nothing back and defeat them once again. Should the trainer showed enough improvement and come back a third time, his father would limit himself to using one or two of his pokémon and should he be defeated, hand over the badge with congratulations.

_"It makes the accomplishment really mean something,"_ his father always explained. _"This badge is a sign of respect, and respect must be earned. A lazy trainer that quits when he loses or fails to learn and improve from his defeats isn't worthy of recognition. But if a trainer works hard and doesn't give up, that deserves rewarding, don't you think?"_

Ever since Kenshin had been old enough and experienced enough to serve as a referee that was how gym challenges worked. He had never seen his father's back pushed up against the wall like this. And it baffled him how his father could appear to be so calm and collected in such a dire situation.

"Ryuujin, _ice beam_," his father commanded.

His father's kingdra took careful aim, seeking another critical hit that would be boosted by his _sniper_ power—

"Ryuu, _draco meteor_," the challenger ordered.

A rippling glow spread over the dragonite's orange scales and flowed towards the dragon's mouth where a glowing orb of concentrated power grew. Just as Ryuujin fired his _ice beam_ attack, the dragonite loosed its own. The glowing orb rocketed over the battle pool and at the halfway point shattered into a dozen fiery little meteors that rained down on the far end of the pool, smashing a few floating platforms, kicking up tons of spray, and pounding the kingdra under the water. It completely spoiled Ryuujin's aim and the _ice beam_ barely grazed the dragonite's flank before it hit the ceiling and left a clump of icicles behind.

Kenshin gaped at the awesome display like a green trainer that had never left home before. _What the heck was that? Not even the Kurohi have pulled off an attack like that one before!_

The churning water eventually calmed, but Ryuujin remained out of sight. Kenshin was about to reluctantly disqualify him when the kingdra leapt from the water almost directly behind the hovering dragonite and fired a fresh _ice beam_ right into the flying dragon's spine. The dragonite dove for the central island with a startled cry, clawing bits of ice of its torso, while a battered and infuriated Ryuujin hissed in triumph.

_I think I can see why Dad never uses Ryuujin when he's ready to fight for a badge. Ryuujin can't stand losing. This could get ugly…_

"Ryuujin, another _ice beam_."

"Ryuu, _thunder wave_," the challenger responded.

The kingdra fired another frozen bolt from his tube-like mouth, but the beating he'd taken from the dragon-powered meteor shower and his boiling rage made his aim sloppy. The dragonite was able to duck under it and, before Ryuujin could correct his aim, it fired blast of static from its antennae. Ryuujin's paralysis was instant and his _ice beam_ abruptly cut off without finding its mark.

"Ryuu, _dragon rush_."

"Ryuujin, _dive_."

His father's pokémon started to sink under the water, but Ryuujin was just too slow. The dragonite surrounded itself in a blue-green aura of dragon power and darted just over the surface of the pool where it just caught the tips of Ryuujin's horns. The force of the glancing blow tore Ryuujin out of the water and cast him onto one of the still-intact floating platforms.

Dazed and paralyzed, Ryuujin still struggled to push itself upright and balance on its curled tail. The kingdra clearly didn't have much health left so the challenger held his dragon back. And his father stood back and watched, unwilling to call back his sea dragon while it still had the spirit and the drive to keep fighting.

_Even if Ryuujin is lucky enough to pull off one last __**sniper**__-boosted __**ice beam**__, he still loses,_ Kenshin knew. _The challenger still has one completely fresh pokémon in reserve that we haven't seen yet. And even if it's only half as strong as the rest of this guy's monsters, it'll still be able to knock out Ryuujin in the state that he's in._

With a final effort, Ryuujin was able to get up and balance on his tail, and the challenging trainer acted.

"Ryuu, _twister_."

The dragonite howled and summoned a small waterspout that completely enveloped the battered kingdra. The shredding _twister_ reached all the way up to the towering ceiling and lasted for what felt like an eternity before it faded away. When Ryuujin was visible once more, the kingdra was laid out cold, half-on half-off the platform.

"…Ryuujin is unable to continue," Kenshin announced, amazing himself with his level tone of voice. "The gym leader is out of pokémon. The challenger wins."

The silly reporters kept on muttering into their microphones and recording devices, but the people who really knew what was going on were silent. His family members and neighbors knew what they'd witnessed. Even those who'd come in hoping to gloat over his father's defeat didn't seem to know what to do with it now that they had what they wanted.

Kenshin sighed and looked to his father, numbly amazed to see that his impenetrable mask was still firmly in place, revealing not a hint of what he was thinking or feeling.

_I really need to learn how to do that,_ he thought as he watched the challenger and his father walk towards each other to exchange a final sportsman-like handshake. _A stone face like that makes all the little tyke trainers freak out…_

* * *

><p>Minato smiled politely as he repeated the handshake that had opened the match with the gym leader, Kenjiro Uzumaki. The grip was the same as before—not harder or softer. The only difference that Minato could tell was that the nod that Kenjiro gave him was slower.<p>

The battle had been tough; the toughest battle that he could remember having against a gym leader. The lingering adrenalin rush made his skin tingle and it was difficult to keep his polite smile from stretching into a silly grin over his accomplishment in winning. The man's clear strength and experience made him wonder…

"Thank you for the excellent battle, Mr. Uzumaki," Minato said. "Have you ever considered seeking the championship of your league? I hear that the position is open."

"I'm a gym leader," was Kenjiro's matter-of-fact response.

Minato cocked his head slightly. "There's no one who could take your place here?"

"My son will take my place one day," Kenjiro replied and let go of Minato's hand. He gestured towards a small door at the end of the chamber where he'd battled from. "The healing machine is back that way."

The blond wanted to follow, but from the corner of his vision he could see the reporters ready to pounce on him, eager for his opinions and thoughts on the battle. If he didn't give them a few comments they'd hang around in the gym for hours instead of leaving in a timely manner. So he gathered his nerve and hoped that he wouldn't end up with a headache.

"I'll see if I can't get rid of the media first," he told the older man.

Kenjiro nodded once and then left to take care of his fainted creatures, completely ignoring a few greeting from reporters that he passed by.

_Okay,_ Minato mentally sighed as he faced the bleachers as reporters started picking their way down to him. _Hopefully this won't be __**too**__ awful…_

* * *

><p>Kushina squeezed her still-damp braid with her hands and imagined that it was Minato's neck.<p>

_No, don't talk to the reporters!_ she mentally growled. _Go somewhere quiet where I can corner you and yell at you for not telling me that you were coming here! Rah!_

"He…beat Uncle Kenjiro," Akane breathed. "He's amazing."

Kushina's irritation sharpened and shifted targets. She clenched her teeth tightly as she watched her fluff-brained cousin drool over her fiancé. She was sorely tempted to do something stupid like snarl: _"Quit staring at him, he's mine!"_ But that wouldn't do her any good.

"Aw man," Arata sighed. "I put my money on Kenjiro. Oh well…"

"That's what you get for judging a book by its cover," Daichi snorted.

Arata pouted. "Yeah, yeah, shut up!"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Arashi cursed from his seat a few feet to Kushina's right.

"I wonder how much he bet on Kenjiro," Daichi remarked quietly.

"Too much," Arata sighed. "That guy doesn't know when to quit."

"I'm going to ask Mother if we can invite him over for lunch," Akane decided and shuffled back to where Aunt Asuka was sitting with the rest of the family.

"What?" Kushina squawked, feeling a stab of panic. _That's a terrible idea!_

But Akane was already whispering excitedly to her mother and dread started churning in Kushina's gut. Her hope to introduce Minato to her family (if she ever did) _after_ they'd married looked like it was going down in flames. And since they weren't married yet, and if her father and brothers decided that they didn't like the idea of Minato becoming her husband, they could try and run him off. Nightmare scenarios started swirling in her brain and she clutched at her braid so tightly that her knuckles bleached white.

"Are you alright?" Shun asked her, jolting her from her panicky thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kushina grumbled.

"You look upset," Shun remarked.

Kushina scowled at him. "I'm fine."

"Okay," he said dubiously. "If you're sure…"

"It looks like someone's finally put old Kenjiro in his place. It's too bad that it had to be a girly outsider that managed it, though…"

Kushina immediately started scanning the locals at the top level of the bleachers in search of the speaker.

"Yeah, man, this comeuppance was long overdue."

Her eyes landed on a pair of men, one with brown hair and the other with silvery hair, sitting two rows down from her and a few feet to the left.

"Hey!" she snapped at them. "What's your problem?"

The pair turned around and glared up at her. Neither of them was particularly familiar, but if they'd just been acquaintances of hers before she'd left it was entirely possible that she wouldn't know their faces now that they were all grown up. It didn't look like either of them recognized her but they got up and walked closer to answer her anyway.

"Kenjiro Uzumaki is a high-and-mighty tyrant," the brown-haired man informed her. "He'll beat a young trainer a dozen times before deigning to let them win a badge from him. He's needed his butt kicked for years."

"Shut up, Kasshoku," Arata frowned. "You're just sore that you were never able to get a badge from him when you picked up the other three gym badges so easily. Did you ever go back for a rematch after he kicked your behind the first time?"

"You shut up," Kasshoku hissed. "You've never even _tried_ to get the spiral badge!"

"I know my limits," Arata shrugged.

"You're just a coward," the silver-haired man sniffed. "I fought Kenjiro _three_ times and never got the badge. It's really sort of insulting that some foreign male model managed to do what no decent, hard-working citizen of _Uzu no Kuni_ has done in decades."

"Hey, Gin, has anyone told you that you're a douche bag?" Daichi scowled.

"He's not a male model, he's the champion of the Land of Fire," Kushina glared. "And if you're so insulted by his win, why don't you two morons challenge him?"

"Who the hell are you?" Gin demanded coldly. "Some foreign fan-girl of goldilocks down there?"

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki and I've lived in _Hi no Kuni_ for years," she snapped back.

"Uzumaki?" Gin frowned.

"Oh, I remember you," Kasshoku smiled nastily. "The little runaway finally comes home. I didn't recognize you; you actually look female now. Imagine that!"

Daichi and Arata managed to grab her arms before she could stand and take a swing at him. "Go screw a sharpedo!"

"No thanks," Kasshoku replied. "I'll pass. I'll leave Golden Boy to enjoy the reporters; I'm not going to bother with him."

"Yeah," Gin nodded. "Why waste time fighting some flashy foreigner that everyone's going to forget in about a month?"

"Cowards," Kushina sneered. "I bet you're afraid that you can't beat Minato, even if you double-team him."

Before their argument could continue and get loud enough to draw the reporters' attention, Arashi and the Tora-Tora twins walked over with expressions full of warning.

"Buzz off, Biyokuchi," one twin said.

"Run home, Retsukai," the other added.

"If you don't knock it off, we'll drag the both of you out on your asses," Arashi growled.

"Remind your sister that women are supposed to be the honorable hidden ones," Kasshoku replied, poking Arashi in the chest with his finger. "Also, my cousin is getting tired of your excuses. You'd better square away your debts with him soon."

"I've got it under control," Arashi snapped. "Beat it!"

With a parting sneer the pair departed, stumping all the way down the bleachers and skulking off towards the gym's exit.

"I hate sore losers like them," Arata complained.

Kushina just glared at their backs and seethed.

_I hope that they work up the guts to challenge Minato to a battle so that he can wipe the floor with them!_

* * *

><p>In the back room, the healing machine finished its cycle and Kenjiro slowly removed his monster capsules from it and replaced them on his belt. It had been a very long time since he'd faced an opponent that was truly on his level, and he was admittedly surprised that someone so young had gotten the best of him. But every now and then it was important to lose; it reminded him of the truth that there will always be someone out in the world that was more powerful, more skilled, or luckier than he was.<p>

And he found himself rather impressed by his young opponent. The blond man gave no impression of arrogance, nor had he rubbed in his victory, and so far had been perfectly polite and respectful. He was someone that Kenjiro felt was worthy of respect and an excellent example of what young pokémon trainers should aspire to be.

_I'll offer him my badge,_ he decided as he headed to the small, velvet-lined box where they were kept. _He's worthy of it._

"Uncle Kenjiro?"

He paused and turned back towards the door and saw his niece standing a few feet behind him with her hands clasped under her chin in her classic begging posture.

"I hope that you're not upset at losing, but I asked Mother if I could, and she said to ask you, because it's your house, and—"

"What is it, Akane?"

"Can we invite him over for lunch or dinner?" she asked with pink cheeks and glowing eyes. "If you don't want to because he beat you I understand, but I really, really, _really_ want to meet him."

"I don't see why not," Kenjiro shrugged. "I'll have Kenshin pass along the invitation after he's finished talking to the media that followed him here."

"Thank you!" Akane cried in delight, hugged him, and kissed his cheek before scampering out of the room.

_It's good that she's finally become attracted to a man that seems decent,_ he thought, returning to his small chest of badges. _If he proves to be as good as I think he is, and if they hit it off…_

He smiled faintly.


	12. Part XII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XII_

Minato sagged in relief as he watched Genma hurry along the reporters, photographers, and cameramen back to the small boats that waited to bring them back to the main island. Even keeping the mini-press conference brief had been tiring and he was ready to get out of the gym and spend the rest of the day relaxing. Once he'd used the gym's healing machine to restore his monsters, he'd ride Ryuu back to Uzu Town and visit the Pokémon Center to adjust his line-up, eat some lunch, and then do a little exploring of the wilder areas outside of town.

He made his way to the back room where his creatures could be refreshed that had been pointed out to him earlier. The gym leader had already made his escape while Minato had been busy with the media, but Kenshin Uzumaki was still there, waiting for him. The Uzumaki helpfully set the machine up for him while he set five of his six pokéballs into the proper slots.

"What's your sixth?" Kenshin asked as the machine ran through its cycle.

"Senkou, my jolteon," Minato replied. "With how tough your father turned out to be, it seemed prudent to keep him in reserve in case I needed him."

Kenshin nodded as the machine clicked off. "Well, my father invites you to have lunch with the family if you don't have any plans."

Minato blinked in surprise. "Really?"

He was very surprised. It wasn't often that an opponent of his was willing to share a meal with him after a battle. That Kenjiro, after being defeated, was offering him a lunch with his family was rather amazing.

"If you've already made other arrangements, it's fine," Kenshin shrugged.

"Oh, no, no I'd love to come over if it's not any trouble," Minato hastily replied. "I'm very honored by the invitation. I just need to tell my friend where I'm going and make a stop at the local Center."

"Alright," Kenshin nodded. "After that, I'll take you to the house."

"Thank you," Minato smiled.

But, as he went to find Genma and share his latest plans, his level of anxiety started to creep upwards. The uneasiness he'd felt on the way to _Uzu no Kuni_ about Kushina's relation to the Uzumakis here was back at the front of his mind again now that he didn't have a battle to focus his mind on other things. He didn't know the names of her father or brothers and he wasn't sure if or how he should ask them about their possible relation to a Kushina Uzumaki.

_Hopefully accepting this invitation wasn't a bad idea…_

* * *

><p>Kushina was still a bit peeved as Tsunami brought her back to the shrinking beach below her childhood home. Arashi wasn't far behind her on his own gyarados, Storm. And behind him came Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora and their gyarados, Jaws and Bruce, with Aunt Asuka and Akane as passengers. Her father had stayed behind to supervise the media getting back on their boats, and she wasn't sure why Kenshin was staying behind.<p>

"I can't believe you have a gyarados," Akane said as the four water serpents reached dry land and let off their passengers.

"Of course I have one," Kushina snorted. "Why wouldn't I?"

"It must have a calm or gentle nature," Arashi decided as he returned Storm to his pokéball.

Kushina snarled at him and flashed him a rude hand gesture.

"Lunch will be late today," Aunt Asuka announced and gave Kushina a narrow look. "That is, if you care to join us this afternoon."

"I don't know," Kushina grumbled. "I need to visit Professor Utatane sometime today since I didn't get around to it yesterday."

"Then you should call on the professor," Aunt Asuka told her. "It's irresponsible of you to neglect your work. A woman should be dependable."

Kushina barely restrained another snarl. "Fine!" she snapped instead as she put Tsunami away. "I'm out of here."

"But, Kushina—" Akane started to protest.

"Hush!" Aunt Asuka scolded. "She has important work to do in aiding the professor. Besides…"

Whatever else her aunt said to her cousin was lost in the rush of the waves as Kushina stomped her way up the steep trail. She really didn't care what the old widow's reasoning was. It was probably something stupid that would only piss her off more.

_I hate that old viper! I wish that Daddy never let her move in and stay for so long. Nobody likes her except for Akane, and Akane has to like her because that's her mom._

Kushina flipped her braid over her shoulder as she reached the top of the cliffs and struck out towards Koharu's laboratory.

_So long as Aunt Asuka's still around, I don't want Naruto coming here…_

* * *

><p>Naruto sat by the window of the train car with Vee napping in his lap. Sakura and Sasuke sat across from him, and Ken-Ichi was sitting to his left, sleeping. The view outside of the window didn't change since the locomotive had broken down two hours ago and it was still being repaired.<p>

_I guess this means that we won't be getting on a ferry today_, he sighed.

The travel plan, as he understood it, was to catch a ferry ride in the late afternoon to one of the islands of _Uzu no Kuni_, eat dinner, and spend the night in a Pokémon Center. Then the next morning they'd catch another ferry that would take them to Uzu Town and Ken-Ichi would escort him to Professor Utatane's lab where his mother was supposed to be working. But with the train at a standstill it seemed like they'd miss the first ferry and have to wait until tomorrow.

Sakura was passing the time by chattering to her new torchic that she'd acquired in the Safari Zone. She'd decided to name him Shamo, supposedly after some ancient breed of chicken that had been popular in non-pokémon fighting. Earlier she'd been playing with her axew, Lizzie, but Kitsune had slipped out and the two had gotten into a fight that Ken-Ichi's wartortle, Gamera, had had to step in to break up.

Sasuke leafed through some free magazines that he'd found on the train although it didn't look like he was actually reading anything. Grimm, the eevee, which had seemed rather depressed and wary of people when it had been first captured, now sat beside Sasuke without a problem. The eevee now appeared much better adjusted to its new circumstances and his name no longer seemed as fitting as it had been before.

Naruto leaned the side of his head against the window and sighed as he rubbed Vee's soft ear.

_I'm so bored…_

The train car suddenly jolted and the locomotive whistled loudly.

"They finally fixed it!" Sakura said to her torchic. "We're on the move again."

_Alright,_ Naruto grinned. _Maybe we'll be in time to catch that boat after all!_

* * *

><p>A quarter before twelve, Minato followed Kenshin Uzumaki out of Uzu Town to the gym leader's home. It was a very similar path to the one that he'd followed the previous day when Kenshin had given him and Genma a tour of the area. The ground sloped upwards from the fringes of town until it leveled off just before the steep sea cliffs, and perched on this flat strip of land directly across from the offshore gym was the house.<p>

It was a weathered old building that needed some fresh paint and some roof repairs but otherwise seemed to be in decent shape. The tall wild grass was cropped down in a ragged circle around the house and there were a few gnarled pine trees around the building. But beyond that there was no garden or decorative landscaping. Nothing really set it apart from the handful of other houses scattered along the cliffs and he probably wouldn't have found it without Kenshin's guidance.

"Nice place," Minato commented.

"The land has belonged to the family for as long as anyone can remember," Kenshin said as they stepped onto the stone front steps. "The old house used to be bigger but a terrible storm knocked it down about ninety years ago and this is what replaced it."

Kenshin knocked on the door to announce their arrival and an older woman let them inside. She wore a nice kimono in shades of pale gray, blue, and green, and greeted him with a demure smile. Minato smiled politely back at her and bowed before stepping inside and removing his shoes, and took her to be the gym leader's wife.

"Hey, Aunt Asuka," Kenshin greeted the woman. "Where's Dad?"

_Aunt?_ Minato blinked. _She's the gym leader's sister?_

"He's waiting out back," Asuka said and bowed slightly to Minato. "Welcome honored guest. Lunch will be served at noon."

"Thanks," Minato replied, feeling a tad awkward at the formal words, and followed Kenshin to where the gym leader was said to be.

The inside of the house was as plain and practical as the outside. All the furniture looked old and worn but clean, and the wooden floors had long lost their shine. There were some pictures on the walls, but most were oil paintings of generic sea-scapes, and the two family photographs that he'd spied he didn't get a good look at before they reached the kitchen and the back door.

Behind the house were the gym leader, Kenjiro Uzumaki, and three other men sitting in plastic chairs. Two of the men had rusty-orange hair and were clearly identical twins, and the third man had black hair and nursed a beer as he slouched in his seat. Kenjiro rose when they appeared and nodded in greeting.

"Welcome, Namikaze," Kenjiro said. "You've already met my eldest son; here are the other three." He gestured towards the twins. "Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora." Then he nodded towards the black-haired man. "And Arashi, the youngest."

"_Yo_!" the twins greeted, speaking and raising their beer bottles in unison.

Arashi barely grunted, and otherwise ignored everyone, staring sullenly out at the sea.

Minato found himself put into an open chair next to Kenjiro and a cold opened bottle of beer pressed into his hand before he could politely refuse it. Kenjiro returned to his seat and Kenshin took the chair on Minato's other side. No one said anything for several minutes and Minato fidgeted with the brown bottle as he started to sweat.

He knew that Kushina had several older brothers. He was pretty sure that she'd mentioned having twin brothers once or twice. And she's admitted to running into a brother in Jungle Country whose name _might_ have been Arashi…or maybe she's said Akashi…or—

"I know that you don't need this," Kenjiro said so suddenly that Minato flinched. "And it won't mean anything outside of the Land of Whirlpools, but…" He held out a small pin with a white circle that had a spiral carved into it. "…I would like you have this. You defeated me and I concede the symbol of my gym and my family to you."

"Thank you, sir," Minato said and accepted the badge from Kenjiro. It felt too light and smooth to be made of stone, so he wondered if it was carved from some kind of animal bone. "This is also the crest of your family?"

"Yes," Kenjiro nodded and sipped at his beer. "The gym has always been run by the Uzumaki, and the Uzumaki have always handed out the symbol of the clan upon defeat."

_Is this why he's never thought of the championship?_ Minato wondered. _He feels so bound to tradition that the idea of doing something else just doesn't occur to him?_

The ice now seemed to be broken, and the twins lobbed a question at him.

"Where'd you get that red gyarados?" one asked.

"Yeah, where'd you get it?" the other added.

"I caught Akai as a magikarp during a charity fishing event," Minato told them.

"That gyarados of yours didn't seem so tough," Arashi muttered.

Minato shrugged. "I haven't had him for a whole year yet. Considering his opponent, I don't think that he did too badly."

"Do you like to fish?" Kenshin inquired.

"Not really," Minato admitted.

"Did you have any inside information before you took Dad on?" Arashi asked suspiciously.

Minato frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Are you accusing him of cheating?" Kenjiro demanded, his eyes turning chilly.

"I just want to know what he knew before the fight," Arashi grumbled. "That's all."

"Well…" Minato picked at the beer bottle label with his thumbnail as he carefully ordered his thoughts. "I couldn't find much information on the 'Net before I arrived, and I had no idea what specific pokémon that I might have to fight, but—"

The back door opened and a woman and almost glided over to them. She bore a resemblance to Asuka, but she was much younger without the wrinkles and gray hair. The kimono that she wore contained brighter colors, her red-brown hair was done up in a more complicated style, and her pretty face was carefully enhanced with make-up. She looked like she could be a model or a movie star costumed for a part in a film set in the ancient feudal era.

"Good afternoon," she bowed. "Lunch is almost ready. Is there anything I can get anyone in the meantime?"

"Geeze, Akane, did you put on a fancier dress?" Arashi snorted. "Are you trying to sed—"

The twins, who sat on either side of Arashi, smacked the back of his head at the same time.

"Ow!" Arashi hissed. "What was that for?"

"Leave Akane alone," Kenshin warned him. "Aunt Asuka changed her kimono, too. I'm sure that they just wanted to make a nice impression on our guest."

"Y-yes," Akane nodded eagerly. Then she turned her full attention to Minato. "Is there anything that I can get you, Mr. Namikaze?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes and blushing slightly.

If he hadn't encountered so many women like her since becoming the league champion of the Land of Fire, he might've thought that she had something in her eye. But he'd long lost count of the shy, nervous girls that had approached him and desperately hoped to draw his special attention. It seemed that, even though he was fairly anonymous in this country, he still couldn't escape from this extremely awkward sort of encounter.

"Um, no thank you," he replied. _Now how to politely tell her that I'm engaged without her bursting into tears…_

"Oh," Akane blinked and fidgeted with the trailing edge of one of her sleeves. "Well, um…"

"Namikaze, allow me to introduce you to my niece, Akane Uzumaki," Kenjiro said. "She's my late brother's daughter and very accomplished in basic and Super Contests. On several occasions she has even competed in Contests in other countries."

Minato's polite smile stiffened. _Crap, he's promoting her; he wants me to like her._ "I can't say that I know much beyond the bare basics of Contests, but that sounds…impressive."

Akane beamed at his weak praise. "You really think so? I'm not able to get to half of the Contests that I want to. So many of them are so far away and travel expenses get so high with all the props and costumes that I need to bring with me for Super Contests…"

She rambled on about her Contest exploits with shining eyes while Minato's mind raced in panicky circles. He didn't want to led this poor girl on and raise her hopes falsely. But on the other hand he still had the nagging worry that these people could be Kushina's close relations and he had no idea how they'd react. And if they reacted negatively—

A strange woman with black hair in a tight braid and wearing a modern-styled purple dress strode around from the side of the house. Her murky blue-gray eyes were bright with unshed tears, her eyelids were red and puffy, and her mouth was twisted in an angry line that might also be holding back sobs. She zeroed in on Kenshin and stormed right up to him without a word and slapped him across the face with all of her strength.

"Suzume?" Kenshin yelped and cringed away from her, almost knocking over his plastic chair. "What the hell—"

"It's all your fault!" she shrieked hoarsely.

"What's all my fault?" Kenshin frowned, rubbing at his abused cheek.

"My baby's out there all by himself," she raged, "because you got him all obsessed with those horrid beasts—"

"For crying out loud, Ken-Ichi's almost eighteen years old!" Kenshin snapped back. "He's more than capable to taking care of himself."

"No he's not!" Suzume shrilled. "He's not eighteen, he's _seventeen_! And he's in some foreign country where he'll get robbed or murdered—"

"That won't happen," Kenshin scoffed. "He's got a whole team of pokémon that he's been training—"

"I don't trust those filthy things!" Suzume cried, wild-eyed. "They're dangerous animals that could crush him, drown him, drop him out of the sky, electrocute him, poison him, burn him alive—"

"Suzume you're being ridiculous!" Kenshin groaned.

"You're supposed to be his father!" Suzume snarled back. "And yet you encourage him to do dangerous things in foreign countries while you barely give him any financial support and don't allow him to live with you!"

"I pay you more than the court ordered me to," Kenshin glowered. "And the only reason that he doesn't live with me is that there's no room in the damn house because Aunt Asuka, Akane, and all my brothers still live at home!"

"That money is barely enough to cover my bills!" the woman protested.

"Maybe you should get a job, then," he retorted. "Surely there's something that you're good at besides being a pain in the ass!"

"How dare you!" Suzume screamed as she started to cry.

Minato cringed in his seat as his eyes darted between the gym leader's son and the hysterical woman. _I have no idea what's going on…and I'm not sure that I want to know._

"Kenshin," Kenjiro rumbled. "Please escort your ex-wife someplace else if you two have something you need to discuss. Our guest doesn't need to be disturbed by your domestic issues."

"Yes, sir," Kenshin agreed and stood up to drag Suzume away by her arm. "Quit crying. Ken-Ichi is just fine."

"No he isn't!" Suzume wailed. "I don't know where he is, and neither do you! He could be laying dead in a ditch somewhere for all we know!"

Kenshin just rolled his eyes and towed her away around the corner of the house and probably back towards town.

"I apologize for that," Kenjiro sighed once their voices had faded to indistinct faint shouts.

"It's alright," Minato smiled weakly. "It sounded like some kind of emergency."

"Not likely," Arashi snorted derisively. "Suzume's a paranoid pokémon-a-phobe who is incapable of realizing that Ken-Ichi doesn't need her to change his diapers anymore."

"Um…" Akane fidgeted nervously. "I think we can go inside for lunch now."

"Yes, let's do that," Kenjiro decided and led the way back inside.

Minato lingered at the tail end of the group a few steps behind Arashi, still hanging on to the opened un-drunk-from bottle of beer that had been pressed on him. He took his time studying the house's interior as he was led to the dining room. Nothing really caught his eye until he reached his destination.

As Akane shyly led him to his place at one end of the table, he saw a family photograph hung on the wall. It was old as all of the gym leader's children were teenagers or younger instead of adults. He saw a younger looking Kenjiro with Kenshin at his shoulder, the twins on his other side, Arashi positioned beside his oldest brother, and right in front of the father was a _fifth_ child…

_…Oh shit._

* * *

><p>Kushina trudged back to her childhood home from the professor's cozy little laboratory. She'd dropped off all the data that she'd collected the previous day and given Koharu an update on the feebas. The old woman had suggested some new areas for Kushina to investigate later and allowed her to play with the professor's persian and purugly before kicking her out to eat lunch.<p>

_Aunt Asuka said that lunch would be late today,_ she thought as she walked. _That means that food will be ready at one o'clock at the earliest… I should be able to fix myself a sandwich and steal some leftovers for Kyuumaru before she starts complaining that I'm in her way._

As she drew nearer to the house, she passed Kenshin embroiled in an argument with his ex-wife, Suzume. The woman was clearly hysterical about something; her face was all blotchy and she was half-screaming, half-crying. Kenshin kept trying to make a point to her but she wasn't letting him finish his sentences and he looked like he wanted to shake her until she shut up.

Kushina gave them a wide berth to avoid getting sucked into the drama.

She crept into the front door and frowned when she heard a murmur of voices coming from the dining room. Her frown deepened when she smelled cooking food coming from the kitchen. She hesitated before kicking off her shoes and walking to the dining room.

_It's barely noon and if lunch is supposed to be late Aunt Asuka shouldn't be cooking anything yet—_

Everyone except for Kenshin, who was outside with Suzume, and Aunt Asuka, who was presumably in the kitchen, was in the dining room. Her father was already sitting at the head of the table—which was set with the nice china—and Kenshin's seat was empty at his right hand. Ichi-Tora sat at her father's left hand with Ni-Tora next to him. Arashi sat on the other side of Kenshin's empty chair, and Aunt Asuka and Akane's seat were vacant at the end of the table, along with a third place setting at the very end—a place of honor. Akane was standing near the family portrait that had been taken mere months before Kushina had fled the Land of Whirlpools on her pokémon journey…and Minato was staring at it.

_Eh? What's he doing here—_

And then she remembered Akane's idea, and everything made perfect, awful sense.

"This is an old picture of my uncle's family," Akane explained brightly to him. "See, that's Uncle Kenjiro, that's Kenshin, that's Ichi-Tora, that's Ni-Tora, that's Arashi, and that looks like a boy but it's actually my _girl_ cousin Kushina!"

"I know," Minato replied faintly.

"Huh?" Akane cocked her pretty head in confusion. "You know?"

"Yeah," Kushina said tightly. "He knows."

Everyone turned to stare at her in surprise. Minato guiltily peeked at her over his shoulder, looking rather pale. Akane transferred her confused look from Minato to Kushina.

"How does he know?" Akane asked.

"Because I know him and he knows me," Kushina half-snapped. Aunt Asuka stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of onigiri appetizers and Kushina hit her with a fierce glare. "You lied to me! You said that lunch was going to be late today so that I wouldn't be here to embarrass you while you pushed Akane off on Minato!" The red-head balled her hands into fists and wished that she could hit the sour old woman. "Well, you're wasting your time. Minato's engaged already."

Akane's shoulders slumped and her lower lip trembled. "He is?"

"How do you know this?" her father asked.

"What gives you the right to be so familiar with him as to use his given name?" Aunt Asuka demanded frostily.

Kushina growled deep in her throat and deliberately sat down in Aunt Asuka's chair, which would place her at Minato's left hand when he sat down.

"I know that he's engaged," she replied coldly, "because he's engaged to _me_!"

_Screw minimizing conflicts while I'm here—it's time for __**war**__!_


	13. Part XIII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XIII_

The silence that followed her declaration sounded as loud as a roaring tempest. The air temperature in the room felt like it plummeted as it thickened with raw-edged tension. Minato stood perfectly still by the wall photograph as nervous sweat started to make his skin prickle.

_Oh, she's pissed…_

Very cautiously, he looked at everyone else, but their eyes were all fixed on Kushina and he seemed forgotten for the moment. Akane no longer looked like she was about to burst into tears; instead, she appeared completely confused, like someone had told her that one plus two equaled purple. The twins blinked, but were so stunned that their eyelids were out of sync. Asuka was clearly startled, but her frosty demeanor remained firmly in place. Arashi frowned, shocked and suspicious. And Kenjiro's response was completely unreadable—the stony mask of an expression that he'd worn during the gym match was back in place.

"…Minato Namikaze is your fiancé," Kenjiro stated rather than asked, sounding horribly loud in the silence.

"Yes," Kushina replied sharply.

"You're his source!" Arashi snapped. "That's why he did so well against Dad. You told him—"

"I didn't tell him anything about the gym!" Kushina retorted. "I didn't even know that he was going to be here since nobody that I asked about the fight cared enough to find out the challenger's name!"

"Then how come he did so well against Dad on his first try?" Arashi challenged.

Kushina rolled her eyes. "Gee, I dunno, maybe because he's officially the toughest trainer in his country?"

Arashi looked like he wanted to keep arguing but didn't seem to have an answer to her statement.

Asuka put down the tray of onigiri that she'd been holding on the center of the table before returning her full attention to Kushina. "You've done better than I had hoped. He has no issue with that child of yours?"

"No," Kushina replied with a dark glare.

"Good," Asuka nodded. "Honesty is always important in any relationship."

The look that Kushina gave the older woman should have incinerated her on the spot, but Asuka seemed oblivious to it.

"Now all that remains is for the two of you to seek Kenjiro's permission to wed and—"

"No," Kushina interrupted her aunt harshly. "We don't need his _permission_ to do anything!"

Minato winced.

"Kushina!" Asuka scolded. "Your father needs to approve your choice of husband—"

"As far as I'm concerned, he's waived his rights to have any say in my life when he shoved my letters into the back of his closet instead of reading them!" Kushina shot back.

_He didn't read her letters?_ Minato frowned. _He wasn't the least bit curious as to how she was doing? If I hadn't heard a word from Naruto in years beyond brief postcards, I'd tear open any letter and read it right at the mailbox!_

Asuka scowled. "Well, I've read those letters of yours, and I'm glad that Kenjiro never opened a single envelope. I'm sure that your exceedingly poor life choices would've broken his heart." The old woman shook her head sadly. "Anyway, your father needs to independently approve this decision of yours since you've proven to have bad taste in men in the past."

"You didn't read my letters!" Kushina snarled, jumping to her feet fast enough to knock over her chair and slammed her fists on the tabletop. "You just skimmed them, picked a few scandalous key points, and made up your own sordid story of my mistakes! I wasn't abandoned by my boyfriend when I got pregnant; _I_ left _him_—_because of you_! All of your harping on how I was wrong and unwomanly made me feel like I wasn't good enough for him, and when I got knocked up I was terrified that I was going to ruin his life so I ran away!"

Then the red-headed woman whirled on her silent, stone-faced father.

"And you didn't help any!" she cried, jabbing an accusing finger in his direction. "When I was really little, I always made you so uncomfortable that I felt unwanted. So I tried imitating my brothers and that seemed to satisfy you…until Aunt Asuka and Akane moved in and then everything about me was _wrong_! She tried to hammer me into being a carbon copy of Akane and you backed up everything that she said and every decision that she made. What I felt, what I wanted, didn't mean anything to you—all that was important was that I turned out the way that Aunt Asuka said that I should!"

Her eyes blazed as she stared down her parent.

"When I finally reached out to you for some advice _I was ignored_." She slammed a fist on the table again. "I was never anything to be proud of, only a reason to be ashamed! I was always wrong, I was never right—_I was a mistake_!"

As she stood there trembling with rage, Minato chewed the inside of his cheek in concern.

_I always knew that she had difficulty with her family, but this…this is beyond anything that I ever imagined. No wonder she never did anything more than send the occasional postcard when we were on the road. If my family was like this I don't think I'd want to call them on the phone either._

"…Are you done throwing a temper tantrum and blaming everyone else for your own mistakes?" Asuka asked coolly, arms folded over her chest in a posture of disapproval. "Or can we return to acting like adults?"

"I'm done," Kushina muttered quietly, tearing her burning glare away from her aunt.

"Excellent," Asuka said with a wintry little smile. "Now let us calm down and eat lunch before it gets cold after which our guest can properly ask Kenjiro for your hand so we can start discussing wedding plans—"

Kushina stalked out of the dining room without a word and slammed the back door shut, cutting off the old woman's sentence.

Minato hesitated only a few seconds before following her. Making sure that she was okay was far more important than making a good impression on her family. They seemed quite convinced that she was seriously flawed and he just couldn't agree with them. Kushina was just fine the way that she was.

He exited the house just in time to catch her vanishing around the corner of the building, heading towards the interior of the island. He had to jog to catch up with her long angry strides and it took some effort to stop her and pull her into an embrace. Her angry tears soaked through the shoulder of his shirts while he rubbed her back soothingly.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was coming," he whispered. "I called your house but all I got was the answering machine. I should've called Professor Sarutobi and had him pass you my message."

"I hate this place!" Kushina sniffled as she clung to his white flame-trimmed shirt. "I hate it so much!"

He pulled her closer and rested his cheek against the top of her head.

"…Can I stay with you?" she asked as she slowly calmed down. "I've been stuck on the pull-out couch-bed since all the good hotels' rooms were all reserved."

"Of course," Minato said. "Let's go find some lunch and pick up your things later."

"Okay," she nodded into his chest. "I know a few good places… How about ramen?"

"Ramen sounds great," he smiled and gently steered her towards Uzu Town. "Let's get out of here…"

* * *

><p>Kenjiro sat stock still in his seat, stony and impassive. As a young man he'd been hot-headed, impulsive, and reckless, charging into situations half-cocked. He'd learned to slow down and force himself to wait, to think things over and act slowly and deliberately. That had evolved into his gym leader's mask and it had long served him well.<p>

"She still hasn't learned to respect her elders!" Asuka huffed and set the knocked-over chair back on its legs.

"She's so angry," Ichi-Tora murmured.

"So very angry," Ni-Tora agreed quietly.

Akane sank down in her seat, dazed and silent.

Arashi took an onigiri from the platter and nibbled at it sullenly.

"How she managed to attract such a handsome, polite, and talented man I have no idea," Asuka fussed. "Surely there are plenty of other women of a gentler disposition that would gladly become his wife!"

Kenshin chose that moment to return to the house. He trudged in through the front door, tired and angry as he always was when forced to deal with his ex-wife. But the moment he walked into the dining room he caught on to the radically altered mood and looked around in confusion.

"Did I miss something?"

"I'll tell you later," Kenjiro told him. "Sit down before the food gets cold."

"Where did Namikaze go?" Kenshin asked as he settled into his customary seat.

"He left," Kenjiro said simply. "Start passing the onigiri around."

"Why?" Kenshin wondered as the stuffed rice balls were sent around the table.

"He went after your sister," Asuka replied stiffly and shook her head. "Throwing temper tantrums in her thirties—how shameful!"

"Enough, Asuka," Kenjiro warned.

"I hope that you have a talk with her, Kenjiro, since she clearly has no interest in listening to me," Asuka continued. "She can't just go on disregarding traditions and proper behavior. It embarrasses the family!"

"_Enough_, I said," he repeated a bit more sharply. "She's a grown woman and no longer bound to obey me or you. She'll do what she wants no matter what anyone else says. Now this subject is closed. Let's eat."

Asuka didn't want to stop, but she bowed to his authority as the head of household and family patriarch and held her tongue…for the time being.

"I guess I missed a lot," Kenshin sighed.

The meal commenced in subdued silence.

_Now that I have no more pressing business,_ Kenjiro decided as Asuka brought out the main dish,_ I'll see about reading these letters…_

* * *

><p>"It sounds like a very interesting fight," his uncle remarked. "It's a pity that I didn't attend."<p>

"Well it was filmed," Shun shrugged as they walked down the street. "It'll probably be on television sometime soon, so it's all a matter of finding out what channel and what time."

Uncle Goro was one of Shun's favorite relatives. He had never given Shun a hint of grief over Sharky, not even in jest, and had provided him with a nice and legal job and a place to live. For all his strong suspicions that his uncle had his fingers in the black market, it was hard to imagine the man as a major figure. Uncle Goro could be a bit demanding of his employees, but he was a bit chubby, a bit short, balding, and he wore half-moon spectacles. He looked more like an accountant or a librarian than someone dangerous or intimidating.

"Record it for me if you find it," Goro requested. "I don't watch much TV; not enough time to waste on it."

"Sure," Shun nodded agreeably. "If I find it."

They were on their way to Shun's favorite restaurant for lunch. Since neither of them had much talent for cooking anything more sophisticated than a sandwich or a scrambled egg, they tended to eat out a lot. And since Shun didn't have a lot of extra money lying around he mainly depended on his uncle to cover most of the bill, and he was fortunate that his relative was generous.

"What do you think of Katsuro's new dragon?" Goro asked.

"I'm reserving judgment until I see it evolve," Shun shrugged. "Right now it doesn't look like much…but then again, most base forms aren't terribly impressive."

"True," his uncle nodded. "And what of his claims that some trainer robbed him of a pokémon?"

"Whether it's true or not, I'm not terribly sympathetic," Shun answered honestly. "I know that he treats his pokémon better than his human friends—otherwise his charizard or salamence would've eaten him by now—but I'm sure that whatever he lost is better off with this thief that he's moaning about."

"That boy gets away with far too much," Goro sighed and shook his head. "His father doesn't see much problem with what Katsuro does and, his mother is sure that he'll grow out of it. Katsuro reminds me of old Takeshi…with a whole lot less talent and ambition."

Shun made a noise of agreement. He'd never met the old champion when he'd been alive, but he knew that his uncle had dealt with Takeshi several times. So if his Uncle Goro said that Katsuro was a weak reincarnation of Takeshi, then—

_Eh?_

Walking on the far side of the street in the opposite direction was the foreign champion…and Kushina Uzumaki. She looked tired and stressed and only half-aware of where she was. And he had his arm looped around her waist like he owned her.

_What does he think he's doing?_ Shun wondered with a frown. _Doesn't he know that she's engaged?_

"Is something wrong?" his uncle asked.

"I'm going to check something out," Shun said. "Get a good table for us."

"Alright. Don't take too long," Goro warned. "I plan on ordering right away."

"Got it," Shun grinned and reversed direction and cut across the street to catch up with his targets. "Hey," he said when he caught even with them, "what's going on?"

"Hmm?" The Uzumaki woman startled and seemed to come out of her daze. "What?"

"Can we help you?" the foreigner inquired with a faint hint of a frown.

"I was just wondering if everything was alright," Shun said.

"I'm great," Kushina replied in a tone of voice that was far from convincing. "Now please leave, I don't have the patience to deal with you right now."

Shun blinked, taken aback. "But…"

"But what?" the red-headed woman snapped.

"It looks like he's taking advantage of you," Shun blurted out, flustered by her irritated attitude.

Her eyes spit sparks. "He's not; not that it's any of your business. Now leave!"

"She's had a bad morning," the foreign man explained apologetically and gently nudged the woman into walking again while Shun remained rooted to the spot, very confused. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"He's barely an acquaintance," Kushina growled to her foreign companion. "But he keeps talking to me like he's an old friend of mine, and it's _really_ getting on my nerves. If he doesn't quit it, I just might punch him in the face."

"Kushina…"

And then the pair was too far away from him to hear a word.

Shun lingered there for a minute more before slowly turning around and heading for the restaurant where his uncle was waiting for him.

_What's going on?_ he wondered, frowning in deep thought. _Could she be cheating on her fiancé? Or…is __**he**__ the fiancé that she claims to have?_

* * *

><p>Inaho lay on her motel bed and wished for a quick death. Two short but extremely turbulent boat rides back-to-back multiplied the effects on her guts exponentially. Getting to see Minato Namikaze battle in person barely seemed to be worth it now that she was suffering from the consequences.<p>

The room that she'd managed to rent was barely habitable. There were splotchy water stains on the ceiling, cracks in the walls, stains on every surface, a nasty smell with no clear source, and she was sure that the whole building was infested with mice and cockroaches. If she had the stomach for camping—and didn't feel like she was currently dying—she would've passed on the motel and toughed it out in the wilderness outside of town. But she was no nature girl so she had to deal with this…and all the creepy men that hit on her believing her to be a prostitute because she was staying here.

_Maybe once the sports reporters and cameramen move on, I'll be able to get into a civilized hotel for a few days to recover before I'm stuck braving the ferry rides back to the mainland._

Inaho groaned and threw an arm over her eyes and yet again cursed this hellish country that completely lacked an airport, which would allow her to come and go with no ill effects.

_Once I leave this place,_ she vowed, _I'm never, ever coming back!_

* * *

><p>Kushina half-leaned against Minato as they strolled down one of the dirt trails that led out of town and felt content. A few nice bowls of ramen and then several skewers of dango had eased her black mood some. And now that she was with Minato almost a mile away from anyone else in <em>Uzu no Kuni<em> she finally felt relaxed. All the tension that had plagued her from the moment that she'd set foot back on the shores of her childhood home was finally gone.

"So where are we going?" Minato asked her.

"A nice private place where there won't be any busybodies to bother us," Kushina replied.

A soft snort greeted her remark and she frowned slightly at Kyuubi. Minato had set the ninetales free shortly after they'd left the town limits and the fire fox trotted at his side, opposite of her. And so far, the pokémon hadn't acknowledged that Kushina was even there.

"I swear that Kyuubi has something against me," she complained.

"No she doesn't," Minato said. "She's just not used to you."

"You've been saying that for months," Kushina sighed.

The ninetales had never done anything overt that would signal her dislike, but Kushina was sure that the fox didn't approve of her. Kyuubi completely ignored her presence and wouldn't listen to Kushina unless Minato had instructed her to. When the fire-breathing fox deigned to notice Kushina's presence it was as if the monster was looking down on her. If Kyuubi caught Kushina cuddling with Minato the ninetales would either seek his attention or try and crawl between them so that Kushina was no longer touching her fiancé.

"She'll warm up to you," Minato insisted.

"Yes and ordinary, bacon-producing pigs fly," she grumbled.

Minato shook his head in mild exasperation. "So, really, where are we going, and why did you insist on buying these extra boxes of dango?"

"We're going to the Sealed Shrine where I am going to introduce you to Kyuumaru," Kushina informed him.

"Who's Kyuumaru?" he asked.

"You'll see," Kushina smirked. "But when we get closer you'll have to put Kyuubi away."

"Why?"

"Kyuumaru can be a little unpredictable, especially with strangers around, so it's just a precaution," she explained.

Minato furrowed his brow. "Wouldn't it be safer to keep Kyuubi around, then?"

"Kyuumaru is a lot less tolerant of strange pokémon than he is of strange humans," she shrugged.

"Hmm…" Minato ran a hand through his blond hair. "So…what's this Sealed Shrine place?"

"It's some restored ancient ruins of unknown origins," Kushina replied. "Probably a religious site from some lost faith or cult. There's no recognizable writing that anyone's been able to find."

"Interesting," Minato nodded. "So no one will be out there? No researchers or sight-seers?"

"Nope," she said. "The only time that people are likely to go up there is during certain holidays to pay respects to the ancients and pray for good fortune. An ancestor of mine studied the place as a hobby, but nobody with any formal training has ever visited it as far as I know."

He nodded thoughtfully. "…So, why the extra dango?"

"Gifts for Kyuumaru," she responded. "He's the official unofficial guardian of the site and has been for most of his life. Visitors always bring him food since he never leaves to forage for himself and to reward him for his service."

"So he's some kind of pokémon…" Minato mused. "And he sounds like a long-lived one. …A dragon?"

"Nope," Kushina grinned. "His friend Ryuuza was a dragon, but he's outlived that dragonair."

"Hmm…a non-dragon that's outlived a dragon," he said. "That narrows it down quite a bit. And based on the name Kyuumaru it sounds like he's a—"

A few feet ahead of them a clump of brush rustled and a ninetales stepped into view. He had the uncommon coloration of solid yellow without the orange tail tips—but not the ultra-rare pelt that Demon demonstrated—and a red-and-white-striped rope tied around his neck in a bow. The instant that he appeared, Kushina froze in complete shock.

_We're still a quarter mile away from the shrine—what's he doing out here?_

Kyuubi immediately placed herself directly in front of Minato and growled a warning to the other fox. Kyuumaru didn't react well to whatever she'd said and started to bristle and lash his nine tails as he snarled back. They went back and forth several times and Kushina grew alarmed.

"Call Kyuubi back," she instructed Minato. "I'll try and calm Kyuumaru down. Something must be wrong; he shouldn't be all the way out here."

"Alright," he agreed and reached for Kyuubi's pokéball—

With a howl Kyuumaru charged and slammed into Kyuubi before she could halt him with an _extrasensory_ blast. The two ninetales immediately dissolved into a snarling ball of yellow fur that didn't seem to have a beginning or end, which made it impossible to try and separate them. They clawed and snapped at each other and sprayed each other with red-hot _embers_ which did little more than set some dried grass on fire since they both had the _flash fire_ ability.

_They're trying to kill each other!_ she realized with horror, almost crushing the dango carton against her chest. _What the hell am I supposed to do?_


	14. Part XIV

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XIV_

She was late. Or, he was pretty sure that she was late. She would come around mid-morning…or was it around noon? Well, he was fairly certain that she was late, so he'd started to worry.

Kyuumaru had sat and watched the main trail to the shrine for a while. Then he'd moved to the bottom of the hill and paced along the invisible boundary that he'd set centuries ago in his own mind. And then he'd looked at the smaller hills that surrounded the shrine's hill and wondered if he could get a clearer vantage point from one of them.

He hesitated and retreated several times before reaching one of the crests of the neighboring hills. Then, again with much reluctance, he'd moved on to the next hill, and then the next, and then the next. With each hill he swore to himself that he would take a look and then return to his post, but then he would slink further away in the desperate hope that he would see her coming from the next vantage point.

And then, quite suddenly, he found her…and a strange man…and another ninetales.

Initially it was the ninetales that caught his attention. It had been ages since he'd last seen one of his own kind, and his nose told him that this one was female. The attraction was instinctual and a little overwhelming since the last time he'd felt any stirring to mate had been decades and decades ago.

_:Back off!:_ the vixen snarled in warning. _:If you try to harm Minato-kun I won't hesitate to battle you.:_

Kyuumaru bristled slightly and raised his tails in a more aggressive posture, brief attraction nearly forgotten. _:You are an intruder here, you have no right to make any demands of me!:_

The vixen's "Minato-kun" had to be the unknown man that she was standing in front of. He had shaggy blond hair and blue eyes and wore a white shirt that was decorated with red flame patterns. And he was standing much too closely to the woman (Mito-sama? That other Mito? The new one, Kushina?) that he'd been looking for.

_:I have every right to insure the safety of my human,:_ the vixen snorted. _:Put down your tails if you intend to be friendly.:_

_ :That man has no business touching her!:_ Kyuumaru growled, baring his teeth slightly.

_:That woman has no business touching my Minato-kun,:_ the vixen countered. _:She's not good enough for him and she just won't go away! If you could make her leave us alone, I'd be in your debt.:_

_ :She's an Uzumaki!:_ Kyuumaru barked. _:One of the noblest groups of humans that I've ever met. If anything, your Minato-kun isn't worthy to touch __**her**__!:_

_ :Don't make me laugh!:_ the female ninetales scoffed. _:She's loud and unrefined and irritating! My Minato-kun is far above her. If only he weren't so kind I'm sure that he would've moved on a long time ago, but he stays with her out of pity.:_

_ :How dare you insult her!:_ Kyuumaru bellowed.

_:She's no good,:_ the vixen insisted. _:If Minato-kun would let me, I'd make my opinion of her far clearer, and maybe then she'll finally keep her dirty hands off my human!:_

_ :Mito-sama isn't dirty!:_ he howled and lunged in a blind fury.

He tackled the vixen and snapped for her throat but she was slippery and avoided him and bit at his shoulder. They tangled and tussled and bits of _embers_ started leaking out of his mouth and her mouth, doing nothing more than inflaming their fighting energies. The only thought in his head was to punish this bratty upstart who'd dared insulted his beloved human and he wouldn't stop until she submitted—

A blast of icy cold water hit him like a hammer and he scrambled backwards, trampling and tripping over his nine tails.

_Cold! Wet! Water! What?_

Kyuumaru ended up in an ungainly heap entangled in some woody brush and dripping wet. His opponent was in a similar state on the opposite side the dirt trail, sneezing water out of her nostrils. And standing beside the two humans was a hulking feraligatr with excess moisture dribbling off his thick jaw.

A fresh spark of anger kindled towards the monstrous crocodile.

_:How dare you attack—:_

"Kyuumaru, Mito-sama would not approve!" the red-headed woman declared.

Kyuumaru reeled, immediately cringing into a submissive posture. The raging fury was doused completely and now he wallowed in shame and confusion. How could he have done something that would have angered his beloved mistress?

"And you," she whirled on the vixen, "didn't help the situation any!"

_:I was defending Minato-kun,:_ the female ninetales snorted and shook some of the water from her pelt. _:Unlike you.:_ She rolled her red eyes over to him. _:Why did you call her Mito? That's not her name.:_

_:I…called her Mito-sama?:_ Kyuumaru blinked and looked back at the red-haired woman. _:She's not Mito-sama. Mito-sama is…:_ He shook his head and his left ear started to throb. _:Ow!:_

"Ah, your ear's bleeding!" the woman (her name was Kushina, wasn't it?) gasped and hurried over to examine it. "Kyuubi tore it!"

He ducked his head as her fingers gently probed the injury and saw bright red drops of his own blood dribbled on the dirt in front of his paws. And then he noticed that his new decorative rope was ruined. It hung awkwardly off his neck and was smeared with dirt and charred in several places from the stray _embers_, destroying its new-rope-smell and starchy stiffness.

_:You okay?:_ the feraligatr rumbled. _:I was told to only soak you enough to make you stop.:_

_ :I'm fine,:_ Kyuumaru muttered. _At least, I think so…_

"This is just great," Kushina fussed. "That ear needs to be stitched up and Pokémon Center medical personnel hate making house calls."

"I take it that that is Kyuumaru," the man said as he gently squeezed excess water from the vixen's nine tails.

At the sound of his voice, Kyuumaru was instantly reminded that there was a stranger present—the untrustworthy man…who looked and sounded completely different from what he remembered.

"Yes," the red-head sighed. "Minato, meet Kyuumaru; Kyuumaru, meet Minato." She started to carefully wring water from Kyuumaru's tails. "We were on our way up to meet you. What are you doing all the way down here? Is something wrong at the shrine?"

_:No,:_ he shook his head slowly, his red eyes fixed on the man with sun-colored hair. _:Nothing's wrong at the shine…:_ And then it hit him. _:The shrine! I need to get back! I can't believe that I left!:_ He shook his head and turned back to the Sealed Shrine at a trot. _Why did I even leave?_

_:Where are you going?:_ the feraligatr asked. _:Aren't you going to eat these dango?:_

_:You need to visit a Pokémon Center,:_ the vixen said. _:Otherwise that wound will get infected.:_

_ :Kyuubi has a point,:_ the feraligatr agreed.

Kyuumaru hesitated and glanced over his shoulder. _:If your master commanded you to guard a place that was special to him,:_ he asked Kyuubi,_ :would you shirk your duty?:_

_ :Of course not,:_ Kyuubi replied with a snort.

_:My mistress bade me to protect the Sealed Shrine from vandals and desecrators and I will fulfill her wishes,:_ he told her, and the feraligatr, and then resumed his trek back to the hill.

"He's leaving," the man said. "Are you going to let him go?"

"I can't make him do anything," Kushina responded. "The only person that can command Kyuumaru has been dead for a couple of hundred years."

_A couple of hundred years…_ Kyuumaru started to run. _Has it really been that long?_

* * *

><p>Kushina dragged a weary hand over her face as she walked out of the Pokémon Center to where Minato was waiting. It had taken way too long to get a hold of the chief physician and arrange for a nurse and a chansey to visit the Sealed Shrine for Kyuumaru. Normally a nurse would visit the site once a year to give him a physical and she hadn't thought it would be a huge problem for a little emergency trip, but with all the complaining that the man had done it was like she'd asked him to send nurses to heal all the sick pokémon in the wilderness outside of town.<p>

"Did everything go alright?" Minato asked when she reached his side.

"Yeah," Kushina nodded. "Kyuumaru will get taken care of, and unless Kyuubi mangled his ear worse that I thought he should be all healed in about a week or so."

"I'm glad to hear that," he sighed in relief.

She started walking with no particular destination in mind and he fell in step right beside her. They'd left the dango carton open at the foot of the shrine hill for Kyuumaru before heading back into town, but hadn't sought the old fire fox out since there was no sign of trouble at the shrine. Perhaps she'd try and show Minato the Sealed Shrine and get him to know Kyuumaru better tomorrow…

"So what's Kyuumaru's story?" Minato wondered.

"He's…I guess you could call him a living family heirloom, although more than just my family looks after him," Kushina shrugged. "He's the last surviving pokémon that belonged to a moderately famous ancestor of mine: Mito Uzumaki. On her deathbed, she charged him—and all her other pokémon—to watch over the Sealed Shrine, and he's been there ever since."

Minato raised an inquiring eyebrow. "What sort of things did this ancestor of yours do?"

"Almost everything that a good girl from Uzu _isn't_ supposed to do," Kushina smirked. "She trained her monsters to kick butt instead of just look pretty and she supposedly visited every country on the mainland at least once, and half the time she went unescorted. When she gave up traveling, instead of settling down and getting married she campaigned to get the ruins of the Sealed Shrine restored and studied them for the rest of her life." She snorted. "I think that the only reasons that she wasn't disowned by the family were that her monster collection was so remarkable, that she always wore pretty dresses and did feminine things like gardening and the traditional tea ceremony, and that she started some trends for female Uzumakis that the elders approved of."

"What sort of trends?" he asked, catching her hand in his and interlacing their fingers.

"The real big one is training milotics," she replied. "Uzumaki men prove their manliness by training a magikarp into a gyarados, and Uzumaki women prove their womanliness by beautifying a feebas into a milotic…and then they use those milotics in Contests instead of fighting with them."

"So you have a gyarados instead of a milotic to be different?"

"Partly," she admitted. "But mostly because my family said that girls can't manage a gyarados, they can only handle gentle milotic, and I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to have a gyarados just like all my brothers."

He blinked. "All of your brothers have a gyarados?"

"Yep," she nodded. "And almost all of my male cousins do, too. With how common magikarp is, it's only a question of patience and determination."

"True."

Kushina grimaced in irritation. "Of course, Arashi thinks that the only reason that I—a female—can control a gyarados at all is because Tsunami _must_ have a calm or gentle nature."

"Have you told him that Professor Sarutobi determined that Tsunami has a serious nature?" Minato asked.

"No, I was too annoyed with his idiotic statement," she grumbled. "And Akane finds it utterly inconceivable that I prefer gyarados over milotic! The one time that she saw Tsunami my cousin kept watching her like she was going to snap and go on a rampage because I'm a woman and a gyarados just can't be controlled by a female."

He squeezed her hand comfortingly and pulled her to walk a bit closer to him.

"I know that she doesn't mean anything bad," she sighed. "She's not all that bright and she just parrots all the traditional conservative garbage that Aunt Asuka has filled her cotton candy brain with… But almost every time she opens her mouth I get so pissed I want to grab her and shake her until her brain actually starts working!"

His thumb gently rubbed the back of her hand.

"It wouldn't do any good, of course," Kushina continued. "She's almost four years older than I am and thoroughly set in her ways. She's always been perfectly comfortable living in her little black and white world that Aunt Asuka painted for her. She loves dresses and Contests and sewing, and she still dreams that some prince charming is going to magically appear and sweep her off her feet and give her a happily-ever-after life." She shook her head. "When she isn't annoying the heck out of me, I kind of pity her."

"You pity her for having dreams?" Minato chided her lightly.

"No, just for clinging to the fantasies of a little girl and seeing herself as a failure for not achieving them," she replied. "The way that I understand it, her previous boyfriends have all had serious flaws and she completely ignored them and exaggerated their good qualities to make them into the prince charming that she's always wanted. The only thing that's kept her from marrying those losers and being miserable was my dad and brothers putting their foot down and making her end the relationships. But she would have gone through with it because she feels like a failure since she's still unmarried and childless, and a woman of her age that's considered successful is one that has a husband and at least one baby."

Minato frowned slightly. "Doesn't she know that there are plenty of successful women out there that have never married or had children—like Tsunade-oba-san."

"But that would make her a _spinster_," Kushina said with a grimace, spitting out the final word like a curse. "According to Aunt Asuka, there is no fate worse and more unfulfilling for a woman than to end up as a spinster with no husband to protect and support her and no children to nurture and love."

"…I don't think that I like this aunt of yours very much," he told her.

"I hate her!" she growled fiercely. "The only good thing about her is that we're not blood-related—she's an Uzumaki by virtue of marriage alone! If only Daddy hadn't felt obligated to take her and Akane in after Uncle Kazuo died…" _Things would've been so much better._

Their meandering path brought them to Uzu Town's 'park'. It was just a chunk of wilderness with no name, minimal landscaping, a few benches, a few trash cans, and some gravel trails that twisted and looped through it. In the spring it looked stunning with all of the blossoming cherry and plum trees, but the rest of the year it looked thoroughly unimpressive.

Minato guided her over to a bench beneath one of the larger and more gnarled cherry trees and they sat down side-by-side in the dappled shade.

"So…why are you out here?" Minato wondered. "I thought that you never wanted to come back to your homeland ever again."

"I didn't," Kushina grumbled. "But Professor Sarutobi talked him into this trip to help out Professor Utatane since both of her usual assistants are unavailable."

He nodded in understanding, and they sat in silence for a while.

"…I never wanted you to come here and see my messed up family," Kushina sighed after basking in his calming presence for a while. "But…I'm glad that you're here." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I love you."

Minato chuckled and rested his cheek against her hair. "I love you, too…"

* * *

><p>Just as the sun was starting to set, a nasty thunderstorm rolled in from the sea. It blocked out the brilliant colors of sunset with thick black clouds, cold sheets of rain, blinding flashes of lightning, and tooth-rattling peals of thunder. Local residents were well accustomed to such weather and simply took cover to wait it out. The truly dangerous storms struck in the coldest months and made this storm cell look like a sun shower.<p>

In a dilapidated-looking warehouse on the fringes on the docks, a small handful of workmen continued their duties without pause for the weather. Most of the crates were full of nothing but straw and extremely cheap goods. However, way in the back where the inspectors and police never got around to visiting, was where all the valuables were kept.

There were cases upon cases of expensive liquor that had been smuggled in to avoid taxes, crates of rare berries that hadn't gone through customs, ancient artifacts bound for private collectors instead of museums, and rare pokémon taken from restricted populations or distant lands. Before the storm had arrived, a batch of new crates had come in from a similar warehouse located on East Uzu Island. Rumors had leaked to shadowy ears that the police on East Uzu were preparing for a big raid on the warehouses holding illegal goods and so all the merchandise was being shifted around to safer ports until the heat died down and business could gone on as usual.

"Stupid cops," one man muttered as he struggled to rearrange some boxes. "They're getting all the kickbacks that they could ever ask for and they're still making things difficult."

"They have to look like they're doing something or they'll be out of work," a comrade replied philosophically. "No job, no bribes, no money for food and housing."

"Shut up," the first man grumbled and finished stacking the last box on the pallet. "I'm going to take a break. Be back in five."

The comrade nodded, and the burly box-mover ambled over to a quieter corner of the "back room" where there was a cracked window. He pulled a cigarette and a lighter from his pockets and lit up, puffing smoke through the open window so that the others wouldn't complain. As the nicotine seeped into his bloodstream, there was an agitated stirring in a large nearby crate.

"Go back to sleep," he grunted at it and took a few more drags. _Don't tell me that that stupid hack screwed up the dosages of the sedatives again…_

Whatever was in the crate didn't quiet down and, disturbed by the odor of his cigarette, started to struggle and kick at the wooden planks of its container.

"Damn it, I hate shipping these things loose!" he growled and dropped his half-smoked cigarette to grind it out with his boot heel.

Smuggled pokémon were shipped in pokéballs about only half the time and the rest were caged in crates with air holes. Keeping them sealed in capsules was the safest and most efficient way to move monsters around. But a lot of customers were picky—they wanted to keep the pokémon wild in private little menageries or they wanted to set up their own private hunts and catch the pokémon themselves…and they were willing to pay a lot extra to get their pokémon that way.

"What did you do?" another man, a Kurokawa judging by his facial tattoo, asked as he stomped over.

"I just smoked a little!" the smoker explained. "Where's the tranq gun?"

"You know better than to smoke in here," the Kurokawa glowered.

"I was blowing the smoke out the window!" the smoker protested.

"Doesn't matter," the Kurokawa snorted. "Smoking's against Boss Goro's rules. You don't want to piss the boss off by breaking them."

"Goro's not so scary," the smoker sneered. "Akuro of South Uzu—now that's a scary guy. He breaks legs for fun!"

"Well Boss Goro doesn't have to lay a hand on you to break you," the Kurokawa retorted. He looked over at the philosopher. "You, got get the tranqs—"

_CRACK!_

The side of the crate exploded with one final kick and a black hoofed creature with jagged white stripes bounded into view. It bucked and reared and electricity danced over its hide as it frantically sought on escape route. The irregular flashes of lightning blasted through the grimy window and silhouetted the zebra-like creature as it cried in panic.

"Damn it, it's loose!" the Kurokawa cursed. "The tranquilizers won't knock it down fast enough—it might manage to escape!"

"I got it!" the smoker muttered and released something from a pokéball in his pants pocket.

An enormous reddish mushroom with yellow spots appeared. It grew out of the back of an orange insect that was almost crushed under the bulk of the fungus attached to it. White blank eyes locked onto the rearing form of the loose pokémon and it raised its heavy claws.

"Shroom, give it a taste of _spore_—"

The zebra-like creature struck first. It shrouded itself in ribbons of flame and charged into the mushroom. It didn't work up a lot of momentum, but with its extreme weakness to fire and its _dry skin_ ability that made that weakness even worse the strike was enough to knock the parasect out cold.

And then the wild creature started to glow.

"Crap!" the Kurokawa snarled and reached for one of his own pokémon. "We need to stop it before—"

The glow vanished revealed a creature a little more than twice its previous size. Its lightning bolt mane and tail were more impressive and its overall form less child-like. And riding high on its success against the parasect, the larger zebra beast began blasting anything that moved with paralyzing _thunder waves_.

"Damn it!" the smoker hissed as the electricity hit him and his muscles locked up.

With all the threatening humans temporarily taken down, the large zebra began striking at other crates with its hooves. It freed five other little zebras and rallied the drowsy creatures, stoking their energy by charging them with its own electricity. Then the small herd made a break for it, stampeding through the twisting aisles of crates and boxes and breaking through a door left ajar, exploding into the storm.

They charged through the deserted streets with the large zebra in the lead. The tiny stampede charged along and, since they were already close to the edge of Uzu Town, headed for open ground. With the loud, almost continual growl of thunder the noise of their hooves was nearly drowned out, and there were no people outside to stop or delay them. Only one person, a lost and drunken sailor looking for his ship, saw them at all as they raced away.

"…I drank way t'much," he slurred and staggered back towards the docks. "'S no such things as zebra pok'mon!"

* * *

><p>It was dark and the storm had passed when Kenjiro headed home from his dinner with his father-in-law, Morimaru Hoshitama. His wife's father rarely visited Uzu Town as he lived in Eddy Village on West Uzu Island, but when he did he insisted on sharing some food with his son-in-law. But with Atsuko dead it was always an awkward affair and now it seemed like old Morimaru's health was starting to fail. This visit to Central Uzu could very well be his last.<p>

Grimacing at his grim thoughts, he stepped through the front door of his quiet house. His sons were out with friends, Arashi was most likely trying to win back lost money somewhere, and Asuka was probably sleeping already, so only Akane sat waiting for him in the living room. She was listlessly stitching some bit of embroidery and jumped when she caught sight of him.

"Is something on your mind, Akane?" Kenjiro asked.

"Oh, no…" his niece shrugged and reapplied herself to her needlework. "Kushina stopped by a little while ago and took her bag and her things out of the bathroom. I think that…that she's staying with her fiancé tonight."

Kenjiro only nodded in response, not terribly surprised by this news. Kushina already had a child out of wedlock, so there wasn't much reason for her to make any pretense of chastity. And after the explosion at lunch, he knew that she wouldn't want to stay here if she could arrange to stay anywhere else.

"It's getting late," he told Akane. "Why don't you get ready for bed?"

"I'm almost done with this," Akane said softly, her eyes glued to the stretched fabric and colored threads.

He patted her shoulder and headed for his own bedroom. It was a bare but serviceable space with little more than a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp and a picture of Atsuko. Venturing into his closet, he removed a hidden shoebox and brought it over to his bed where he removed the bunch of letters inside.

There were about thirty envelopes and all but four of them remained sealed. Kenjiro retrieved his reading glasses and checked the post-marked date stamped on them by the post office to make sure that they were in the proper order. And then he went to the oldest of the envelopes, which had been opened by Asuka, and started to read the note it contained, frowning at all the scratched out words and disjointed sentences.

_"Um, hey…_

_ "I'm not begging for money, I don't need you to come rescue me…I'm not in jail or anything… I don't want to come home. It's just…just…_

_ "Kaede (she's this really nice old lady, she's letting me stay with her right now, her house is really cool, there's a lake behind it and all these berry bushes and it's really private) well, she says that I should make up with him and that everything will be okay…but she's kind of hard of hearing and I don't think that she gets it._

_ "What if…he gets really mad at me? What if he feels that he's stuck with me? I don't want him to feel…obligated to do…stuff! What if it ruins everything? What if he hates me for it? I don't want him to hate me… That would…really suck, and stuff._

_ "So, well, the thing is… Damn it, I don't know what I should do! I'm hiding from him right now so I don't get in his way, but should I do what Kaede says and make up with him? Or should I just hide out here so he isn't dragged down by a girl like me?_

_ "…I just don't know…what should I do, Daddy?_

_ "PS: I'm pregnant. Don't tell Aunt Asuka."_

Kenjiro closed his eyes for several minutes before opening them again and reaching for the next letter.


	15. Part XV

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XV_

Kenjiro stood on the sea cliffs and watched as the predawn grayness started to develop the bright colors of sunrise. He'd spent most of the night picking his way through the old letters and after he'd finished he had been unable to sleep. Now his old eyes ached and his neck was stiff and he felt every bit of his age and more.

_I should have tried reading at least one of those letters before…_

The oldest of the letters had been the hardest, but the rest had been very similar to the tone of her postcards. She stated how she was doing, how her son was doing, and she would close with a few bitter comments. After the first two or three letters she never mentioned her son's father (and never named him beyond the nickname of "Sunshine", which niggled at the back of his brain for some reason) and the letters stopped before any hint of a new relationship or that she was considering marriage to her fiancé.

One of the envelopes that Asuka hadn't already opened had contained a photograph. It was of a little boy, maybe two years old, with a poliwhirl plush in his arms, chubby cheeks, enormous blue eyes, and vibrant yellow hair. On the back had been scribbled the child's name and birthday—Naruto Uzumaki, October 10th.

_What an odd name,_ he reflected. _And that hair… No Uzumaki has ever had hair that color before._

A small flock of seagulls glided overhead, squawking their plaintive cries, and Kenjiro slowly headed back to his house.

_I wonder if he'd like an omanyte…_

* * *

><p>Naruto snarled dozens of words that would've caused his mother to wash out his mouth with soap as he chased Kitsune around the enclosed part of the passenger ferry. The zorua was getting really adept at slipping out of her safari-ball and her persistent escape attempts were really getting on his nerves. He'd decided to keep her with him for a while to try and start bonding with her some and give the <em>soothe bell<em> a chance to work, but now he was wondering if he'd met his match in this stubborn little fox.

_I don't think that Demon was ever this bad!_ he thought as he darted around other passengers to try and keep the little beast in sight. _It was never hard to catch up with him—he tended to run in straight lines and he couldn't disguise himself. Demon's biggest problem early on was that he ignored and defied me._

Sakura was tired and cranky from getting up early to catch the boat and neither she nor Sasuke were interested in helping him corral Kitsune this time. Ken-Ichi was busy apologizing to the ferry captain for the disturbance, and the other passengers were really getting annoyed. If Naruto didn't catch his fox soon he feared that he'd have to talk to police when the ferry docked in the Land of Whirlpools.

"Kitsune!" he hissed as he nearly tripped over a chair leg. "Get back here right now!"

The tricky little fox ignored his demand and slipped out a cabin door when a disgruntled passenger tried to escape the chaos she was wreaking inside. Naruto immediately followed, muttering apologies as he pushed through other people, and stumbled out onto the outer deck of the ferry. To his relief, she hadn't gone far or invoked her _illusion_ powers again; she was standing with her forepaws braced on the lowest part of the rail and was staring rigidly into the sea.

"Would you please stop causing trouble?" he half-grumbled, half-pleaded as he scooped the zorua up in his arms. "I'm getting really, really, _really_ tired of chasing after you."

Kitsune didn't seem to hear him—her blue eyes remained fixed on the vast expanse of ocean that the ferry was cutting through on its way to the closest of Uzu's big islands.

"…You've never seen the ocean before?" he guessed.

The zorua blinked and finally appeared to take notice of him. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation and Naruto braced himself for some new illusory trick that she would try to distract him with so that she could escape again. And then she leaned forward and licked his nose.

"Gah!" the blond boy yelped and was so startled that he almost dropped her over the side.

But instead of taking advantage of his shock and wriggling free, Kitsune remained in his grip and rubbed her head against his neck. Naruto stood stock still and waited for some trick, some attempt to flee, but she just kept on cuddling. Seconds lengthened into minutes which grew into nearly an hour, and Naruto started to relax just a little bit.

_Could she finally be giving up running away?_ he wondered. _It kind of seems too easy…_

Naruto moved to the bow of the ferry and stared at the horizon, willing the island to come into view so that they could transfer to the next ferry that would take them to Uzu Town and his mother.

_But it would be really great if this problem is over, because I'm __**really**__ sick of running around!_

* * *

><p>Goro Kurohi frowned slightly when he found his assistant waiting for him outside of his office when he turned up to work. Seeing how exceptionally anxious the nervous man was his frown deepened. He unlocked the door and stepped inside first, summoning the man inside with a silent gesture. The lanky man's eyes darted all over the cluttered room and did a slight double-take when he noticed that the gargoyle statue that sat in the corner of the room was missing.<p>

"What is it, Shinrou?" Goro demanded without preamble.

"There was…a problem last night at our local warehouse," Shinrou gulped, wringing his hands.

Goro's eyes narrowed. "What problem?"

"S-some stock t-transferred from East Uzu…escaped," Shinrou stammered, looking sweaty and pale.

Goro's expression darkened and mutely demanded further explanation.

"A blitzle broke loose, managed to evolve, and freed five others before fleeing into the wilderness. It happened during the storm so there should be no witnesses—"

"Thank the powers that be for small favors," Goro growled. "Organize some men to track them down and recapture them, but if the police or some local finds them first, back off. And regardless of whether or not we retrieve the lost merchandise, find out who was responsible for this debacle. I think it's well past time for me to make an example that will keep my employees properly motivated."

Shinrou almost turned gray and nodded jerkily. "Right away, sir!"

Goro turned away from him in a gesture of dismissal and fled the office so quickly that he failed to notice that the gargoyle statue that had been missing was now in its customary place.

"…Genkurou," the Kurohi said after running through a breathing exercise to help rein in his broiling temper. "It looks like I will be needing your special talents once more. Be ready."

The dragon-like gargoyle statue's eyes flashed and a faint eager growl seemed to emanate from its snarling marble jaws.

A wintry parody of a smile briefly graced Goro's features before he reached for the latest paperwork that he had to review for the day and got down to business.

* * *

><p>The zorua trotted at the blond boy's heels as they debarked from the ferry, looking every bit the loyal and happy human slave. But behind that façade, she was looking for the perfect opportunity to escape. She needed some kind of distraction that wasn't the direct result of something that she'd done—a loud one that would cover up the sound of the stupid bell around her neck—and then she could flee.<p>

It seemed that the houndoom hadn't been lying to her after all. There was an ocean—a body of water far vaster than anything that she'd ever seen or imagined—between her and home. But luck it seemed had been with her, the human that sought to break her will and enslave her had boarded a boat that was taking him across the ocean and so home was within reach.

The only obstacle to returning home and not being exiled now was how to shake her captor. As she'd stared into the ocean on the boat that morning, she'd realized that she'd made too many failed escapes. The human expected her tricks and kept an eagle eye on her that he refused to relax.

So she gave him what he wanted. She fawned over him and stopped trying to bolt at every opportunity. Even though it made her fur crawl she stuck by his side and obeyed his commands. And bit by bit she could see his guard lowering to the point where he was letting her run loose by his side as he entered a human settlement along with his companions.

_I'm almost home,_ she thought as she studied her new surroundings. _All I have to do is sneak away. Nothing flashy like before, I'll just slip away and by the time he notices I'll be long gone! Then all I need to do is make it out of town and into the wilds where Mommy will be looking for me._

"So this is Uzu Town?" the stupid blond human asked.

"Yep," the oldest human nodded.

"It seems…historic-looking," the pink-haired female remarked.

"Hn," the black-haired boy grunted.

"You mean 'out-dated and broken-down'," the oldest male snorted.

"No—"

"It's alright," the red-brown-haired human shrugged. "I'm not offended."

"Is Professor Utatane's lab close by?" the blond boy asked.

"She's set up outside of town, about an hour's walk from here," the oldest human replied.

"An hour?" the blond human frowned. "Can we get lunch first? I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," the pink-haired girl sighed.

"But it's after noon!" the blond protested. "Aren't you hungry?"

"If you're not in a rush we can stop for some take-out," the oldest human said. "I know a few good places…"

The zorua only half-listened as she followed them down the narrow stone-paved paths between buildings, doing her best to appear attentive, happy, and free of any thought of escape. Her nose twitched as she started to smell the exotic and alluring scents of human food, but she fought the need to drool. Getting free of the humans was more important than enjoying the rare treat of human-made edibles; she could always steal human food later once she was safe.

They approached a small building from which dozens of strong food smells was emanating and—

"Ken-Ichi!"

The oldest human in the pack froze and cringed. An adult female with black hair, cold blue eyes, and a basket of fruit and bread stormed up to the group, her pale face reddening with anger. The zorua struggled not to dance with eagerness as the entire group's attention was grabbed.

_This could be my chance!_

"Hey, Mom—"

"Where have you been?" the woman demanded shrilly. "Hayato and Katsuro returned home without you!"

"They just got ahead of me," the red-brown-haired boy shrugged nervously. "And I'm home now…"

"You're lying to me!" the woman snapped. "Katsuro told me that they left you behind and that he had no idea where you were going!"

"But Mom—"

"Don't you 'but Mom' me!" the woman cried. "You're coming home with me right this instant! And you're grounded!"

"What?" the boy sputtered. "Why?"

"You promised me that you would be safe and stay with your group and you broke that promise to me!" she responded. "And you just now lied to me!"

"But—"

"No excuses!" The woman thrust her basket into the oldest boy's arms and grabbed his shoulder. "Now come along."

"Dad wouldn't—"

"You don't live with your father," she scowled. "You live with _me_."

"Mom, I was helping these kids get here—"

"Children?" she blinked, finally taking notice of the three younger humans present. "What are you doing escorting young children around? You're not old enough to be their chaperone! Did their parents give their permission for this?"

"They're on their pokémon journeys," the oldest boy practically growled. "They don't need to get permission from their parents."

"Nonsense!" the woman scoffed, and then her eyes fell on the pink-haired girl. "What about her? She can't be on a pokémon journey. What are you doing taking this little girl far from home, Ken-Ichi?"

"Of course she's on a pokémon journey!" the blond boy cut in with a frown. "Why wouldn't she be?"

"Because if girls want to associate themselves with the filthy creatures they focus on Contests close to home," the woman sniffed. "Not that I think that girls should do that. Those animals are dangerous!"

The blond boy stomped his foot angrily. "Pokémon aren't filthy!"

The zorua scowled at the stupid woman's foul attitude, but smiled when she noticed how all attention—even that of unrelated passers-by—was captured by the confrontation. Fighting the urge to bolt, which would cause the stupid bell to make lots of noise, she crept away from the blond boy's heel and slunk up along the nearest building wall until she was able to duck into a dark little space between buildings full of garbage cans. There were some odd cat pokémon with golden ovals on their foreheads that she wasn't terribly familiar with picking through the trash for scraps and she used their appearance for a new glamour, making sure to include the bell so no one would wonder about the jingling sound when she walked. And then she slipped back out onto the stone path in her new disguise and continued along, leaving the human argument behind her without drawing a shred of attention.

_I did it! I did it! I did it!_

She wanted to sing and dance, but there were humans everywhere. If she did anything other than walk like she belonged there, they would notice and wonder. She needed to keep up her disguise until she found a way out of this human den.

_Now where is the wilderness?_ she wondered as she took random turns at every intersection. _And where can I get rid of this dumb bell? It'll be so much easier to hide without—_

A flash of red in her peripheral vision snapped her head around. She saw the back of a human woman with long red hair walking down a side path. It looked identical to the human disguise that her mother favored when humans had been detected on the fringes of the tribe's territory.

_:Mommy!:_ the disguised zorua cried and sprinted after her. _:Mommy, I'm over here!:_

The red-haired figure didn't seem to notice her until the zorua latched onto its leg.

_:Mommy, I'm sorry for running away! Let's go home—:_

"A meowth…that _barks_?"

The zorua's nose only smelled human scents instead of zoroark musk, and she looked up to see a human woman's face that didn't match her mother's disguise at all.

_This isn't Mommy…this is a human!_

"It barks?" A man with blond hair that strongly resembled the boy that had captured her peered around the woman. "Really?"

"It sounded like it was barking," the red-haired woman replied.

"Seriously?" A second man with limp brown hair and a tiny stick in his mouth stepped around to the other side of the woman. "…Why is it hanging on to your leg?"

"No idea," the woman shrugged. "It's got a bell on its neck so it has to belong to someone…"

"Let's turn it in to the Pokémon Center," the man with the twig in his mouth suggested and reached down to grab her.

Jolted from her shock, the zorua released her grip on the strange woman and bolted. She ran and ran, desperately seeking a way out of this awful human place. She was so upset that her disguise almost collapsed and her eyes stung.

_Mommy, where are you?_

* * *

><p>Kushina frowned as the odd barking meowth streaked away down the street and vanished around a distant corner.<p>

"That was really weird," Genma muttered.

"Yeah," Minato agreed. "Are you sure you weren't hearing barking from somewhere else nearby?"

"Do you see any dogs or dog pokémon around?" Kushina asked.

All three of them glanced around, but the street that they were standing on was empty.

"How strange," Minato murmured.

"Well it's gone now," Kushina said. "So shall we continue?"

Both men nodded and they returned to walking down the narrow street.

They'd already had lunch and Kushina was taking Minato to the shop where she'd bought the rope for Kyuumaru. He was interested in getting another to replace the one that had been ruined in the fight with Kyuubi and hoped to use it as a peace offering. Genma was tagging along in the hope that he'd find something interesting to do along the way.

Genma was a nice enough guy, Kushina thought. He was a flirt, but a smooth one that knew when to quit, and he seemed competent enough. She decided that she liked him and was glad that Minato had managed to find him to manage his schedule and wrangle the media for him.

"Eh?" Genma paused and squinted at a poster taped to a lamppost. "What's this?"

"An advertisement for a kabuki play," Kushina said after glancing at it.

"They have kabuki plays here?" Genma blinked. "I thought that that form of theater was dead."

"The old styles of theater are the only kinds of theater in these parts," Kushina replied. "You won't find anything modern outside of the occasional school play. Everything is either kabuki, noh, or bunraku puppetry."

Genma fidgeted with his toothpick. "I've always wanted to see a kabuki play."

"Well there are two big theaters in town, compared to the one dinky movie theater," Kushina said. "There's usually at least one show a day, and several on weekends. There's an office off the main square that has all the schedules if you're interested."

"I might as well check it out," Genma nodded.

They moved on and chatted amiably as Kushina led the way through Uzu Town's quaint streets. Genma shared stories about negotiating with companies that sought the minimal endorsements that Minato gave and misdirecting nosy reporters so that the blond could get some peace. Minato told tales of dealing with star-struck fans that had won some contest or sweepstakes and got to spend a day with him or team up with him in a double battle. And Kushina mainly laughed.

But then, barely a block from the store that they were aiming for, a small roadblock in the form of a bunch of locals appeared. A pack of men, probably on the way to some bar, came into view from a side street and quickly changed direction when they noticed Kushina and her companions. She recognized Gin and Kasshoku from the previous day at the gym and scowled.

"Hey there, Runaway," Gin greeted with a smirk. "Consorting with the victorious champion?"

"What do you want?" Kushina demanded with a glare.

"Nothing much, we just wanted to share some thoughts that we had," the silver-haired man replied.

"We discussed the gym battle and what you said afterwards with our friends here," Kasshoku said, gesturing towards his other companions. "As pleased as we were to see Kenjiro Uzumaki defeated, and defeated soundly, it all seemed…too neat."

Kushina narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Oh?"

"Just what are you implying?" Genma asked.

"There were video cameras there—lots of them!—and Mr. Champion-of-the-Land-of-Fire here is a real big thing where he comes from," Kasshoku drawled. "And it's no secret that Kenjiro needs money—he wouldn't have done the exhibition match at all if he wasn't desperate!"

"So he threw the fight," Gin declared. "To get more money and keep Golden Boy looking golden. It makes perfect sense."

Kushina really wasn't sure if she should curse at them or shake her head and laugh in disbelief at their idiocy.

"That's ridiculous," Genma snorted. "That battle was completely legitimate."

"Sure," Kasshoku sneered. "Claim whatever you like if it helps you sleep better at night."

"My father would never throw a fight," Kushina growled. "And if you don't believe me, why don't you both try your luck against Minato yourselves like I suggested yesterday? Or better yet, how about you buzz off and do that other thing that I recommended that you do with a sharpedo!"

"I'm game if you two are," Minato shrugged, his expression unbothered but his blue eyes hard and cold.

Gin and Kasshoku glowered at the blond man but seemed hesitant to put their money where their mouths were.

"Count me in," Kushina declared. "Let's make it a two-on-two!"

Kasshoku grinned nastily. "That sounds good to me?"

"It does?" Gin blinked. Kasshoku gave him a significant look and Gin slowly smiled as he caught his friend's train of thought. "Yeah, it does. Let's make it a two-on-two." The silver-haired man glanced at Minato. "…If you don't mind fighting alongside a woman, of course."

For a moment, Kushina's vision turned red as she realized exactly what the chauvinists' 'logic' was. They saw her joining Minato's side as an advantage for them because she was a woman. Women didn't fight real pokémon battles; they dressed their monsters up in costumes and had them perform dance routines. Minato therefore would be forced to split his attention between fighting _both_ of his opponents and protecting her pokémon since they'd have no idea what they were doing. And if Minato got offended by the idea of being paired with a female and refused to fight them, they could back out and save face since they'd specifically agreed to fight two-on-two instead of two-on-one.

"I don't mind at all," Minato responded coolly. "A two-versus-two it is."

But then she smiled coldly as a wicked plan flashed into her brain.

_They think I'll just be an anchor around Minato's neck. They'll underestimate me and dismiss me as a threat. And we'll kick their asses so hard they won't know what hit them!_

"Let's take this to the town square," she suggested.

"Is battling allowed there?" Minato asked.

"Yep," Kushina nodded sharply. "There's plenty of room." _And there will be plenty of witnesses to this ass-kicking!_

"That's fine with us," Kasshoku agreed.

"Let's go then," Minato nodded. "Lead the way."

"Is this a good idea?" Genma asked Minato quietly as they followed Gin and Kasshoku's posse.

"Relax," Minato reassured him. "Everything will be fine."

_It won't just be 'fine,'_ Kushina thought gleefully. _It'll be great! It's been way too long since me and Minato teamed up to really kick butt!_

* * *

><p>Feeling more human than the previous day, Inaho tried to pass the time by exploring and window-shopping. The few clothing stores that she'd ventured into weren't to her taste as their selection for women was decidedly old-fashioned, consisting of house dresses, yukatas, informal and formal kimonos, and costumes for participating in Contests. Other stores that she'd seen were filled with Contest props, pre-made pokéblocks and poffins, fishing gear, pokéballs made from apricorns, and berry-growing supplies. None of them really caught her attention and she'd stopped at a rustic little café for lunch before returning to wandering aimlessly with her chatot, Chatty, riding on her shoulder.<p>

_What a backwater,_ Inaho sighed. _No department stores or shopping malls… I don't think that these people have even heard of such things!_

She eyed a little corner bakery and wondered if she should go inside and look for dessert—

_"Ch-wark!"_ Chatty squawked and nipped at her ear.

"Ah!" Inaho squeaked and ducked away from the chatot's beak. "What?"

The parrot monster urgently gestured with his wing down the street behind her. Inaho craned her neck to find a group of about ten people—several local men and one woman, along with Champion Minato Namikaze and his agent-assistant Genma Shiranui—heading towards where she remembered the town square to be. There was a certain silent tension that hung over them that she picked up on instantly and made her think that they were heading off to a fight.

Inaho hurriedly fumbled around inside her large shoulder bag for one of her cameras. Early in her career she'd learned to always carry a still or video camera everywhere that she went as there was no telling what she'd stumble across. When she pulled out her cheap digital video camera—a rugged model that was easily concealed, but its video quality was poor compared to professional cameras—she grinned and stroked the bird's note-like head crest.

"Good catch, Chatty!" she said and started to follow them on the far side of the street. "This could be really big! Let's see what they're up to…"


	16. Part XVI

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XVI_

Naruto felt immensely relieved when Ken-Ichi finally got some words in edgewise and persuaded his mother to stop making a scene. He reminded her that the younger trainers following him had no idea where they were going and promised to go straight home after he'd finished showing them around. She very unhappily relented and wandered off to complete other errands, leaving them in peace.

"Is your mom always like that?" Naruto asked as they started walking again.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed.

"She didn't use to be," Ken-Ichi sighed, taking no offense at the blunt question. "When I was little, she seemed like the perfect mom. She gave me all kinds of toys, made sure that I always had new clothes, and there were always brownies or cookies for dessert. She spoiled me almost rotten and my dad was driven crazy because I didn't believe that I had to work to get anything. But on my seventh birthday when my dad brought me a lileep to take care of things started to change."

Naruto blinked. "You have a lileep?"

"It's a cradily now, but yeah," Ken-Ichi shrugged. "I guess that my dad hoped that my mom wouldn't freak out over a grass pokémon since most of those aren't terribly intimidating, but she took one look at it and screamed bloody murder."

"Where did your dad get it?" Sasuke asked.

"No idea," Ken-Ichi replied. "It's a family secret. So even if I _did_ know, I wouldn't tell you."

"Huh," Naruto rubbed at his scarred cheek. "Why doesn't your mom like pokémon?"

"She had a lot of bad experiences with pokémon when she was little. Like, one time when she was three she played rough with an older cousin's mankey and it scratched her arm so badly that she still has a scar from it. And there was another time when she was five or six when she got lost on a family picnic out in the hills and was mobbed by a flock of angry spearow. It seems like at least once a year until she was about thirteen years old there was some traumatic incident that involved a trained or wild pokémon." Ken-Ichi shook his head and sighed. "My mom doesn't really talk about any of it, but her sister, my Aunt Aimi, explained it to me."

"So now she hates all pokémon?" Naruto frowned.

"Yeah," Ken-Ichi nodded. "She really hates it that I've decided to become a pokémon trainer like my dad. She refused to let the lileep stay at the house with us; it had to stay with my dad and I would have to go over to his place every day to take care of it. And now that I have more pokémon, I have to leave them all at my dad's overnight—she won't even let me keep my team with me if they stay sealed in their pokéballs."

"That's not cool," Naruto remarked. "How come you don't live with your dad?"

"With all the money that he pays my mom, and all the financial support that he gives to the rest of his family, he doesn't have enough to buy his own house so he still lives with his dad, my grandpa," Ken-Ichi explained. "In fact, most of my paternal relatives live in that house so there's just no room for me, too. If my dad had his own house, I would've moved in with him years ago." He shook his head tiredly. "I really have no idea how they even dated. It seems like my parents can't be in the same room for five minutes without getting into an argument. They did their best to hide how much they fought when I was a kid, but now that I'm older they don't bother anymore."

Naruto jammed his hands into his pockets. "That sucks."

"The rest of my relatives aren't so bad," Ken-Ichi said. "Aunt Akane loves making treats for me and poffins for my pokémon since she doesn't have any kids of her own. Uncle Ichi and Uncle Ni are always a lot of fun to hang out with. And Grandpa lets me train in the gym whenever I want."

"What's the gym here like?" Sasuke asked.

Ken-Ichi studied the Uchiha for a moment and then snorted. "Don't bother challenging unless you feel like hanging out here for months and losing a lot."

"You think I can't earn the badge?" Sasuke demanded.

"I _know_ you can't," Ken-Ichi responded. "No one can. Not on their first try. Early in my training career I thought that I was hot stuff and challenged Grandpa, and he knocked out my four pokémon with a single attack each from just one of his pokémon. It stung, but he used it to finally get through to me that if I really wanted something, I needed to work for it instead of just expecting to get it."

Sasuke didn't look pleased to hear this information.

Naruto took advantage of the brief lull in the conversation to check and see how Kitsune was doing—

The zorua was nowhere in sight. Naruto stopped and looked around frantically, but the little black fox failed to magically appear. So he did the only thing that he could do: he panicked.

"Gah! Kitsune's gone!"

"Naruto…" Sakura groaned and shook her head in dismay. "Why did you let it roam around after all the times that it tried to escape?"

"I thought she was over that!" Naruto moaned.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Sasuke muttered.

"Well look on the bright side," Ken-Ichi suggested. "We're on an island and that limits the places it can run to, and it's the only one of its kind in the whole country, so we'll find it…eventually."

Naruto clapped his hands over his face and made an inarticulate sound of frustration.

_Why?_

* * *

><p>While the town square was mostly ringed by shops, restaurants, and offices, there was one side that was mostly a blank wall with a wide stretch free of doors and windows, which made it perfect for in-town pokémon battles. This blank wall formed one boundary of the battlefield, and part of the central fountain formed the other, leaving the other two ends open for opposing trainers to stand. When they arrived, Kasshoku and Gin took up one end with their little posse standing behind them, and Minato and Kushina took the other with the red-head positioned closer to the fountain and Genma keeping a safe but supportive distance behind them. Seeing a clear set-up for a battle, people paused in their errands and drifted out of shops and little restaurants to take a look.<p>

"Is there anything I should know about them?" Minato asked quietly.

"Kasshoku's a Biyokuchi and they tend to favor fighting types," Kushina replied. "Their clan lore claims that they brought mankeys and machops to the shores of _Uzu no Kuni_ so I wouldn't be surprised if he has one or the other, or both." Her gaze shifted towards the other man on the far side of the cobblestone field. "Gin's a Retsukai and they love ice types, especially sneasels and weaviles."

Minato slipped his hands into the pockets of his blue hoodie. "Hmm…"

Kasshoku and Gin conferred with each other for a few minutes while the crowd slowly grew, and then one of their friends jogged over to share the terms that they wanted.

"The rules are three pokémon per trainer, one substitution per pokémon, no money stakes, no medicines or berries, and the last side standing wins," the man said.

"Deal," Kushina snorted. _No money stakes? How cheap of them._

"Fine by me," Minato agreed.

The messenger returned to the opposing side and passed along their acceptance. The group got into some kind of discussion, probably over some kind of betting pool, and the number of curious spectators slowly grew. Kushina struggled to remain patient and reminded herself that the longer that they delayed the more people would show up to view their humiliation.

"How do you want to start off?" Minato asked.

"Hmm…with eons," she decided.

He nodded his agreement and set Senkou free to bounce in place with excited energy. Kushina sent out Uzu-chan, who waited much more calmly with only the slightest twitch to her tail. But Kasshoku and Gin appeared to be too busy talking with their friends to notice that their opponents were ready to go.

"…Hey!" Kushina finally yelled. "Are you going to keep chatting like a bunch of old ladies or are we going to do this sometime today?"

The two men gave her irritated looks, but finally put out their first monsters.

"Start us off, Tyson," Kasshoku half-grinned.

"Show 'em who's boss, Jack," Gin commanded.

Tyson turned out to be a primeape that made a big show of pounding its boxing-glove-like fists together, stomping its feet, and snorting through its squashed pig nose. Jack was a weavile that swung its hooked claws in wide arcs and sneered at its opponents. The displays were meant to be intimidating, but neither evolved eevee flinched and Kushina swallowed a snort.

"Make your first move," Minato invited.

"Alright," Kasshoku's grin widened. "Tyson, _cross chop_ that chick's vaporeon!"

"Jack, use _icy wind_ on the jolteon!" Gin called out.

The primeape raised its arms and charged and Uzu-chan while the weavile sucked in a deep breath—

"Uzu-chan, _acid armor_ in the fountain," Kushina ordered.

"Senkou, _agility _and _double team_," Minato commanded.

The female vaporeon ducked away from the _cross chop_ with more than a foot to spare and flipped into the moderately deep fountain pool, seeming to melt into the water as she did so and becoming incredibly hard to see. The jolteon zipped into motion, skirting the blast of _icy wind_ from the weavile as he ran and ran and ran. With each passing moment his speed increased, and in employing _double team_ he started creating illusory copies of himself that were also running in dozens of different directions. The faster he moved, the more copies he appeared to have, and in very short order the primeape and weavile were completely lost as to which one was the real one.

"_Fury swipes, _Tyson!" Kasshoku cried.

"_Fury swipes_!" Gin agreed.

Both pokémon began desperately swiping away with their claws and fists at the zigzagging copies of Senkou, but they only hit the false images and the jolteon took no damage at all.

_What idiots… _Kushina resisted the impulse to roll her eyes as she watched the monsters keep flailing and their trainers fail to try anything else while Senkou ran circles around all of them. _Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't complain about how they're playing right into our hands._

In trying to follow the numerous yellow blurs that were Senkou, the primeape started to get dizzy and stumbled over to the edge of the fountain pool.

"Grab it, Uzu-chan!" Kushina called, and the vaporeon, which had been briefly forgotten due to Senkou's attention-grabbing display, lunged from under the surface of the water, latched onto the primeape's spiky fur, and pulled it into the fountain. "And _whirlpool_!"

The vaporeon began to circle the fighting monkey at high speed, whipping the water into a shredding _whirlpool_. The water wasn't terribly deep, but Uzu-chan's power built it up until it rose partially over the surface of the pool like a very squat waterspout. The primeape gurgled and flailed, but couldn't escape and started taking progressive damage.

"Jack, help Tyson!" Gin yelled.

The weavile abandoned trying to land a _fury swipe_ on Senkou and hustled over to the fountain to yank the primeape free—

"Senkou," Minato said, "_double kick_."

All of the dozens of copies of the jolteon converged on the weavile just as it reached the lip of the fountain and kicked at the ice monster, knocking it into the _whirlpool_ attack with the primeape on the second blow.

"Out of the pool, Uzu-chan!" Kushina chirped, and the vaporeon immediately hopped back out onto the cobblestones.

"Senkou, use _discharge_," Minato ordered.

The jolteon's spiky pelt crackled with electricity and then a dozen bolts struck the _whirlpool_, lighting up the whole fountain and frying the drenched pokémon inside. When the blaze of light faded, the primeape and weavile were out cold floating on their backs. Gin looked pale and sweaty as he recalled his weavile back to its ball, but Kasshoku looked furious.

"Alright," the Biyokuchi scowled. "No more playing around. Come out Rhino!"

A rocky rhydon crashed down on the cobblestones, cracking several of them with its earthy bulk, and bellowed a challenge.

"You, too, Titan!" Gin cried.

A metallic steelix kicked up dust and left sizeable cracks in the town square with its tremendous weight and loomed over the entire make-shift battlefield.

Uzu-chan wouldn't have trouble with either new opponent, but Senkou was now at a severe disadvantage since their ground types eliminated all of his electrical attacks and would do terrible damage to him. Minato withdrew Senkou in favor of using his poliwrath, Gama. And Kushina decided to swap her vaporeon for her starmie, Hoshi, just for the heck of it.

_Since limited substitutions are allowed,_ she thought,_ why not?_

"Rhino, get rid of that poliwrath with _thunder_," Kasshoku yelled.

"Titan, use _thunder fang_ on the starfish!" Gin cried.

The rhydon's drill-like horn started to spin and gather a massive electrical charge, and the steelix's blocky teeth started to spark as it lunged for Hoshi—

"Gama, _hydro pump_," Minato instructed.

"Double it up, Hoshi!" Kushina grinned.

The poliwrath dashed around to the side and fired an enormous gush of water into the rhydon's flank before its attack was fully charged. Hoshi spun like a multi-armed frisbee, slipped past the steelix's sparking iron jaws, and whizzed to hover over the fountain and blast the metal snake with another _hydro pump_. The way that the two water pokémon were positioned, and the near simultaneity of their attacks, sandwiched the two opposing pokémon between the two _hydro pumps _and pounding them mercilessly.

When the water torrents ceased the rhydon was almost out flat, but the steelix with its massive defense and steel-typing still had a good bit of fight left.

"Gama, finish it with _focus blast_," Minato commanded.

"Make sure of it, Hoshi," Kushina added.

Gama started gathering fighting energy into a dense blue sphere.

"Titan!" Gin panicked. "Use _thunder fang_, use it now!"

Again the iron snake attempted to use _thunder fang_—

Hoshi's red gem blazed and the steelix froze, unable to move due to the starfish's psychic powers. The _focus blast_ finished powering up and Gama leapt at the steelix's head, hurling the attack when he was in mid-air. The steelix groaned from the blow to its jaw and, with a little psychic nudge, it collapsed onto the wheezing rhydon and took it out, too.

Gin Retsukai was really pale and sweaty now and fumbled as he withdrew his steelix. Kasshoku Biyokuchi looked downright murderous as he took back the rhydon. With a snarl Kasshoku grabbed Gin's arm and hissed some instructions into the silver-haired man's ear.

"Basan!" Kasshoku bellowed. "I'm counting on you."

"Marshal," Gin gasped hoarsely. "Help us out here!"

A blaziken exploded onto the scene and crowed at the sky, blasting embers from the hot spots on its wrists. The second pokémon was a swampert that shook its fins and croaked and deep bellowing call. They were clearly the duo's first pokémon and probably were the toughest.

"Hmm, I think we should respond in kind," Kushina quietly suggested, and pulled Hoshi back. "Don't you?"

"Fine by me," Minato nodded agreeably, and called Gama back as well.

Hana the venusaur rematerialized first, looking almost bored as she stood quietly and awaited commands. Crusher the feraligatr was only a few seconds behind and entered in a crouched position with his scaly forearms braced on the cobblestones. He sized up his competition and made a disparaging grumbling sound.

"Basan, take out that venusaur with _brave bird_!" Kasshoku barked.

"Marshal, hit the feraligatr with _take down_!" Gin cried.

The blaziken darted forward, tucked its arms to its chest, and leapt into the air, gliding close to the ground on its wing-like head feathers while it was surrounded by a fierce blue glow. The swampert was a bit slower to get moving as it charged towards the feraligatr, intent on dealing damage and willing to take some in return—

"_Aqua jet_!" Kushina ordered.

"_Vine whip_!" Minato called.

Crusher enveloped himself in water and took off like a missile, crashing into the blaziken and interrupting the _brave bird_ strike only a few inches from the venusaur's nose. Hana didn't even blink and almost casually extruded some of her vines from the plant on her back and whipped at the swampert's feet, tripping it up before it had even tried to change direction to go after Crusher. The swampert ended up face-planting into the cobblestones, while the blaziken tumbled end over end and almost crashed into the fountain pool from Crusher's strike.

"Basan, bounce back!" Kasshoku yelled. "Take down the feraligatr with _sand attack_ and a _hi jump kick_!"

"Get up, Marshal!" Gin pleaded. "Hit them both with _muddy water_!"

The fighting fire chicken was quickly back on its feet and it scratched up loose dirt from between the paving stones with its talons to hurl it into Crusher's eyes. While the giant crocodile was trying to shake away the grit, the blaziken leapt high into the air and readied its knee to strike Crusher—

Hana coiled some vines around Crusher's upper arm and yanked him aside, causing the blaziken to miss and dig its knee into the hard cobblestones, doing terrible damage to itself.

The swampert finally lurched back to its feet and stood beside the fountain where it summoned a _surf_-like wave, oozing mud from its skin to make the water dirty. Hana and Crusher rooted themselves to the ground and turned their backs to the wave, riding it out and taking minimal damage as their types resisted the water attack. But the blaziken, still clutching its wounded knee and squawking in pain, wasn't able to jump out of the way and was swamped by the _muddy water_. When the water drained away, the blaziken was out cold.

"Gin, you moron!" Kasshoku cursed.

"I'm sorry!" Gin yelped and cringed away from his friend. "Marshal, _ice beam_! Hit the venusaur!"

The swampert opened its maw and an icy blue glow formed at the back of its throat—

"_Protect_!" Kushina called out.

Crusher interposed himself between Hana and the swampert, planted his feet, crossed his arms over his chest, lowered his head, and projected a barely visible barrier that harmlessly deflected the crackling _ice beam_ as it fired from the swampert's mouth.

"Now give it a _scary face_ and let's give this fight an aerial finish!" Kushina cheered.

Minato chuckled. "Hana, use _sunny day_ and _solar beam_"

Hana seemed to give off a reddish glow and the gray film of clouds parted to bathe the entire town square in bright, warm sunlight. Crusher puffed himself up and twisted his intimidating face into a terrifying expression that inspired the swampert to take a step back and hesitate. Then Hana started to run straight at Crusher's back as her large flower drank in the powerful sunlight. The mighty plant monster jumped on the crocodile's back and used it as a springboard to jump high into the air with an added boost from Crusher and all six of her vines pushing off the ground at the same time, and seemed to soar.

_I love it when venusaurs fly,_ Kushina grinned.

And then at the apex of her leap, Hana fired her _solar beam_.

* * *

><p>It took all of Inaho's professionalism to prevent herself from getting mesmerized by the battle and keep her little video camera focused on the action. It wasn't the most exciting or nail-biting fight that she'd ever seen as it was very clear that Minato Namikaze completely outclassed the two local men who had challenged him. No, what really drew Inaho's attention was the woman involved on the Fire Champion's side.<p>

While the battle in the town square was surely a spur-of-the-moment thing set up against strangers, it was clear to her that Minato Namikaze's partnership with this mysterious red-headed woman had serious history behind it. The pair seemed to need far less discussion than their opponents did, they designated targets for their pokémon only half the time, and their battle strategy was cooperative. And it wasn't just the trainers, their pokémon had to be familiar with each other also; they and worked in tandem very well, even defending each other without needing any command.

And as the dust settled from the _solar beam_ to reveal the knocked out swampert, Inaho wondered: _Who is this woman?_

All the evidence that she could see indicated that this woman _had_ to be an old friend and companion of Minato Namikaze's. But when Inaho looked at the triumphant red-headed woman, she had no idea who she was. She had never appeared once during Minato Namikaze's reign as champion, otherwise Inaho would know her name.

_Who is she? Where did she come from? Where has she been?_

She switched off her video camera to preserve the battery while the local men vainly argued that the champion's team had cheated somehow despite the fact that they had followed the rules set by the challengers to the letter, and felt a spark of excitement flare inside of her.

_This is bigger and better than making up some romance story based on Minato Namikaze and some local woman being in the same place at the same time. This is a real mystery—a real story. This is a lot better than what I had hoped to find!_

The crowd of spectators that had gathered to watch the double battle started to disperse. They largely watched the fight in silence and there had been no cheering or booing, only mutters and fragmentary whispers. Inaho frowned and did her best to listen in, seeking some clue or, better yet, a name for the mystery woman.

_"…pretty impressive, even when paired with a woman…"_

_ "…what idiots, challenging someone that beat Kenjiro…"_

_ "…could I be like her, Mommy?"_

_ "Absolutely not! You'll never find a husband if…"_

_ "…fluke, just a fluke…"_

_ "…she brings nothing but disgrace…"_

_ "…I wish I could say that I was surprised, but she's always been…"_

_ "…who was she? I've never seen her before."_

_ "Kushina Uzumaki. It looks like the only decent thing she's done since leaving has been to grow out her hair properly…"_

Inaho locked her eyes on a sour old woman who'd spoken and what was probably her grandson as the pair wandered away from the improvised battleground. The young man was laden with several shopping bags while the old woman hobbled along with the aid of a cane. She briefly considered tailing them to see what else she could overhear, but since she had the name that she wanted, she charted a course for the Pokémon Center, bumping into several people in her haste.

_Listening to that old bat and her backwards opinions would've been more annoying than informative anyway._

Armed with the name of the woman, she could start doing some research on how she related to Minato Namikaze. It would be best to start looking at tournament records during the earliest parts of the man's career and see how often her name appeared around his. And once she had that background sorted out, she'd have to start milking the locals for information on this Kushina Uzumaki.

_Komugi owes me big time. I'll call him up and have him do his magic on the Land of Fire League records for me. Depending on what he finds for me, I might just declare us even…_

* * *

><p>Since none of them but Ken-Ichi knew the area, they had to stick together instead of splitting up to search for the missing zorua to avoid getting lost. Naruto had Bolt riding his shoulder so that the pikachu could help him look for anything that was out of place and Sakura had Shamo the torchic and Sasuke had Dragon the charmeleon out for the same reason. Ken-Ichi refrained from sending out any of his pokémon and did his best to help them scour the streets of Uzu Town.<p>

But their search hadn't gone on too long before they heard some commotion going on nearby. Suspecting that Kitsune could have something to do with it, they'd diverted towards the sounds of what could've been a pokémon battle. And when they reached the town square they ended up sucked in to the spectacle of a feraligatr and venusaur trouncing a blaziken and swampert.

"That was so awesome!" Naruto breathed as the crowd broke apart and scattered. "Did you see that crazy _solar beam_?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "I didn't think that a venusaur could jump like that."

"It was a very nice combo move," Ken-Ichi nodded. "I wonder who the trainers are…"

"Let's get closer and see—_hey_!" Naruto squawked as a brunette with an enormous shoulder bag and a chatot fluttering after her almost bowled him over in her haste to get wherever she was going. "Watch where you're going!"

The woman didn't look back or apologize.

"She's not from around here," Ken-Ichi frowned. "How weird; we really don't get tourists in these parts."

"…Well, weren't we looking for something?" Sasuke grunted.

Naruto blinked and then almost spiraled into panic again. "Gah!"

"Well, maybe Kitsune's around here?" Sakura suggested. "If we were attracted to the noise, maybe it was too. Is there anyone or anything around here that doesn't belong?"

They spread out a little and looked around at the rapidly thinning crowd and surrounding businesses. Naruto and Bolt zigzagged through the women, men, and children, looking for a lone pokémon that shouldn't be wandering around or the little girl in the black dress that he'd first seen in the Safari Zone. He dodged a knot of dissatisfied men and—

A flash of red hair stopped him cold.

_…Mom?_


	17. Part XVII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XVII_

Kushina was a bit irritated that the spectators had been largely silent during and after the battle, but she wasn't too surprised. And she was very annoyed when Kasshoku and Gin had tried to complain about her and Minato cheating somehow in a desperate attempt to save face. But neither thing could dampen her enjoyment of the win. She and Minato had beaten the jerks, and done it with style!

And then someone short latched onto her arm.

"Mom!"

Her brain briefly shorted out when she looked down and found her son staring up at her. Naruto was supposed to be off on his pokémon journey again, somewhere—anywhere but here! Yet here he was with his pikachu hanging off his backpack and looking upset…

"Naruto?" she blinked. "What are you doing here?"

Off to the side, she could hear Genma start to choke on his toothpick.

"I came to see you; Professor Sarutobi said that you'd be here," the boy answered. "But I lost a pokémon!"

"Which one?" she frowned.

"Kitsune!" he replied.

Kushina's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "What's that?"

"This zorua that I caught in the Safari Zone in _Kusa no Kuni,_" he hurriedly explained.

"In the Land of Grass?" she repeated. "But that Safari Zone is closed for renovations. How did you get in?"

"There was a special promotion," Naruto said, bouncing a bit with anxiety. "I got in and caught all this cool stuff, but Kitsune keeps running away and this time I didn't even see her do it and now I can't find her!"

"Calm down," she advised and pulled her battered pokédex out of her pocket. "A zorua you said?" _What the heck does that look like?_

"Yeah," the boy nodded vigorously. "But she can look like anything!"

Kushina glanced up from the tiny picture of the small black fox. "What? It can _transform _like a ditto?"

"It has the _illusion_ ability," Minato piped up helpful as he consulted his own pokédex. "It doesn't really transform, it projects false images to disguise itself as other pokémon species, or even as humans."

Naruto jumped and blinked owlishly at Minato, apparently not realizing that his father was also present. Then he spied Genma, who was coughing and rubbing at watering eyes, and shifted to stand so that his mother was a human shield against the stranger. Genma was too busy recovering from almost inhaling his toothpick to notice the boy's reaction.

"…However this power works, it's going to make looking for this pokémon difficult," Kushina said.

"I know," Naruto mumbled.

"Well, the sooner we get started looking, the sooner this search should be over," the red-headed woman declared.

"True enough," Minato agreed. "We should start at the edge of town. When pokémon try to run away from their trainers they almost always head back to the wild."

"And if we don't catch it there, we should let Professor Utatane know what's going on and round up a bigger search party to check the wilderness along the coast, then work our way inland," Kushina said.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically at the adults' plan of action. "Yeah!"

"Naruto!" Her son's pink-haired female classmate jogged over to him with a cute little torchic skittering along at her heels. "There you are! We've checked all over the square and—oh! Hello Mrs. Uzumaki."

"It's _Miss_ Uzumaki," Kushina sighed. _Naruto's brought some friends with him? Wonderful…_

"Okay Mrs. Uzumaki," Sakura nodded obediently.

"Never mind," Kushina muttered, giving up. "Who all's here?"

"An older boy named Ken-Ichi Uzumaki brought Naruto, Sasuke-kun, and I here," Sakura informed her.

"Ken-Ichi…" Kushina repeated, twirling a loose strand of hair around her finger thoughtfully. _That's supposed to be Kenshin's kid's name, right?_

The two other members of Naruto's group turned up at that moment. Sasuke slouched over to them with his charmeleon, nodded politely to the two adults that he recognized, and then studied Genma, who was now fidgeting with a fresh toothpick and debating if it was safe enough to start chewing on it or not. And the other boy that she presumed was Ken-Ichi—noticeably taller and older than Naruto's friends with dark gray eyes and red-brown hair—approached cautiously, eyeing all three adults with identical levels of wariness.

"I guess this means that looking up the theater schedule is going to have to wait," Genma sighed.

"You could check it out by yourself," Minato suggested. "You don't have to help…"

"Nah, I'll help." Genma slipped the toothpick in between his teeth. "I just hope that there aren't any more surprises that you forgot to tell me about."

Minato smiled weakly. "Sorry Genma."

"So…you're my Aunt Kushina?" the teenager asked after he'd studied her for a few minutes.

"If your dad's name is Kenshin Uzumaki…yes, I would be," Kushina nodded.

"That's his name," Ken-Ichi nodded slowly.

"Cool, can we start looking now?" Naruto begged, bouncing with impatience.

"Of course, of course," Kushina grinned and repeated the plan for the three who had missed hearing it.

There was no disagreement and the group of six headed for the edges of town to see if they could find any clues as to the location of the zorua. Kushina decided to let Uzu-chan free, since the vaporeon was small and mobile, to help in the search, and Minato matched her by calling upon Senkou. Genma brought out his lone pokémon, Zang the zangoose, to help and after a little hesitation Ken-Ichi produced a wartortle he called Gamera.

"Um, Mrs. Uzumaki?" Sakura piped up hesitantly. "We saw the end of the pokémon battle, and it was really cool, but we couldn't see who the trainers were…"

"A couple of jerks started dropping insults and me and Minato ended up knocking them down to size," Kushina shrugged.

"_You_ did that crazy _solar beam_ from above move?" the blond boy asked.

"We did," Minato chuckled.

Naruto's wide blue eyes shone with excitement. "That was so awesome! I wish I got to see the whole thing."

"If you can find the right channel tomorrow night, you'll see a pokémon battle that's twice as cool as that one," Kushina promised.

"Only twice as cool?" Minato sighed with a feigned pout.

"Yeah, since I wasn't involved in it," Kushina joked.

"Wow!" Then a flash of worry dimmed Naruto's awed expression. "I hope we find Kitsune in time for me to watch it…"

* * *

><p>The zorua was really beginning to despair as she trotted through the increasingly hilly terrain. Nothing looked familiar, nothing sounded familiar, nothing smelled familiar. There were no landmarks that she recognized, and all of the pokémon that she spotted were strange to her.<p>

_Maybe things are different close to the ocean?_

But the further she walked the thinner that hope became. The plants weren't quite right and the soil seemed too rocky, too sandy. The sky was gray and featureless and the faint smell of salt in the air made it impossible for her to tell if it might rain.

_:But I crossed the ocean,:_ she growled. _:I'm home now! Why is everything still different?:_

No one answered her. She drooped and plodded along a game trail to the top of the next little hill. When she reached the crest she paused and—

Two hills away she caught sight of the first "right" thing. A tiny herd of blitzle was grazing there, watched over by a bigger zebstrika. She watched them for a few moments before darting off at redoubled speed.

_I'm home, I'm home!_ Her exaltation seemed to give her little red paws wings. _I need to get higher!_

She spied a hill that was higher than all the others around it and raced straight for it. From there she could she her mother coming to find her. From there her mother could hear her cries. And then they would go home together and everything would be great because she'd gotten away from the humans and there was no way that anyone would know that she'd been held captive.

There was a nice clear trail through the dense brush that covered the sides of the hill. It smelled faintly of human, but it was weak and old so the trail wasn't used often, and hadn't been recently. And if there were humans up there, she could slip away or scare _them_ away with her _illusions_.

At the top were human buildings, old and crude and made out of stone. She hesitated, sniffed the air, listened, but detected nothing except for the musk of an unfamiliar pokémon. Whatever-it-was wasn't around and with no humans present she galloped past the half-sphere rocks to where the stone shack stood.

_:Mommy!:_ she howled. _:Mommy! Mommy, I'm here! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!:_

No reply came. But she'd only just started, and this could take time. She wouldn't give up, couldn't give up, until her mother found her.

_I should get higher…_ She eyed the flat-topped stone shack speculatively. _Is there a way to get up there?_

The little zorua started to circle the structure to see if she couldn't find a way onto the roof. There was no way to climb the walls and it was too high for her to jump. The ground was level and there was no ladder or raised spot that she could jump from. She came back around to the small rectangular doorway and squinted into the darkness beyond.

_Maybe if I go inside there's a way—_

Dozens of tiny fireballs rained down around her and she yelped and the half-forgotten tan-cat-monster-with-a-bell disguise collapsed. She spun around in search of the source of the fire—

There was a crack in the gray clouds and a ray of sunlight silhouetted a monster with a dozen lashing tentacles and glowing red eyes that was looming over her.

_:Trespasser! Vandal! Thief!:_ it bellowed, spraying fiery sparks from its maw. _:__**Be**__**gone**__!:_

* * *

><p>Kyuumaru knew that he shouldn't have taken the pills that the healer had given him. The previous day a nervous woman had come to him and treated his torn ear. She wasn't happy to be there and that had made him a bit uneasy, but she hadn't needed a needle and thread to repair him, just some kind of magical glue. The healer woman had taken away his ruined rope without replacing it (which had left him feeling naked), encouraged him to eat the pills, and had advised him to avoid fights for a few weeks to ensure that the tear healed and didn't reopen.<p>

And then he'd slept most of the day, all of the night, and most of the morning away.

All of that sleeping meant that he wasn't doing his job in guarding the shrine. There was no telling what he'd missed while he was unconscious. If that odd cry hadn't finally roused him…

The ninetales slunk out of his den and crept up to the hilltop. At first glance everything seemed to be in order. But then he spied a meowth with a bell pacing around the shrine itself and staring up at the roof.

Other pokémon knew better than to come here. Wild pokémon learned their lesson the first time he taught them and they made sure that all their friends stayed away too. And tamed pokémon didn't need him to teach them to keep clear, their humans' warnings were more than enough.

It should not be here.

He would make it leave and it would learn to never trespass again.

As it stared into the dark shrine interior, he sprayed _embers_ all around its feet.

_:Trespasser!:_ Trespassers came to vandalize._ :Vandal!:_ Vandals ruined and stole things._ :Thief!:_ Thieves would destroy Mito-sama's great work. _:__**Be**__**gone**__!:_

The image of the meowth danced around to face him…and dissolved to reveal a little black canine thing with bits of red on its paws and head. It gaped up at him with wide blue eyes filled with terror. And then it started to cry.

_:Mommy!:_

Kyuumaru took a step back and relaxed his thrashing tails. Pokémon didn't cry for their mothers when he confronted them; they fled, or begged for forgiveness, or both. Adult humans rarely yelled for their parents when he had to chase them away. Only young boys trespassing on a dare called for their mommies.

And as he stared at the strange black creature, he wondered just what exactly it was. He had traveled extensively with Mito-sama and had visited every spot of consequence on the mainland, and met every kind of monster that dwelled there. Yet he had never seen anything that looked like what sat wailing before him.

_:Mommy, help me!:_

_:Your mother isn't here,:_ Kyuumaru informed the monster child.

_:She'll come for me!:_ the black thing insisted. _:Mommy always finds me!:_

_ :I don't know about that,:_ Kyuumaru frowned. _:What exactly are you? I've never seen a monster like you before.:_

_ :What?:_ the intruder sniffled and frowned. _:Well…well of course you've never seen my kind before! We're illusionists. We can disguise ourselves as whatever we want. We can even look like humans if the mood strikes us. But believe me, we're around!:_

Kyuumaru narrowed his ruby eyes and sat down, carefully coiling his nine fluffy tails around his paws. _:I've never heard of a race of monsters that could do such things before. And if you're right and I've never had the chance to see your kind before, I would have most assuredly __**heard**__ of them…and I haven't.:_

_ :Us zorua and zoroark are a secretive bunch,:_ the zorua sniffed, lifting her nose into the air.

_:Secretive or not, I would know about these "zorua" and "zoroark" of which you speak, and I don't,:_ he retorted. _:Where are you from?:_

_:That's a secret,:_ the zorua replied. _:But I traveled across the ocean to get here.:_

_ :You came from the mainland?:_ Kyuumaru guessed and noticed that the bell it had worn as a false meowth was still there. _:I've been all over the mainland and your kind does not exist there. Your human master must be wealthy, or well-traveled, or both to have acquired you—:_

_ :I have no human master!:_ the zorua snarled, leaping into an aggressive stance. _:I am a free creature, and now that I have returned home I'm looking for my mother!:_

_ :That bell around your neck says differently,:_ the ninetales snorted. _:And this isn't your home. I know these islands far better than the mainland and you don't belong here.:_

_ :I-island?:_ the zorua blinked. _:What's an island?:_

_ :It is a small piece of land surrounded on all sides by water,:_ Kyuumaru answered. _:These islands are referred to as the Land of Whirlpools, and this island in particular is called Central Uzu Island.:_ He tilted his head and concentrated. _:You're not from here, and you can't be from the mainland…you must be from one of the other continents—there are several of them, and I never visited the most remote of them.:_

The zorua's eyes grew wide. _:How far away are these continent-things from here?:_

_ :Several days by boat if the weather is good,:_ Kyuumaru shrugged. _:They're on the other side of the world.:_

_ :On the other side of the…:_ The zorua's eyes narrowed and it bared its tiny teeth. _:You're lying! You're lying to me! I'm home! I saw blitzle and zebstrika—pokémon that live around my home!:_

_ :Blitzle? Zebstrika?:_ the ninetales repeated, puzzled. _:What are those? I've never heard of them before either.:_

_ :Liar!:_ it cried and lunged for his face to _scratch_ him.

Kyuumaru easily batted the zorua aside with one paw and then pinned it down with a tail. _:Why would I lie? I have no reason to. I don't even know you! …But I do know this: you are trespassing on a sacred site restored by my Mito-sama. Leave and return to your human master.:_

_ :Never!:_ the zorua cried and struggled. _:I'll never be a human's slave!:_

_:…Is that how your master treats you?:_ the ninetales asked, flattening his ears in disapproval._ :As a slave?:_

_:I don't care how he treats me!:_ the zorua snarled and thrashed. _:I'm a failure as a fox if I submit to a human's capture. I won't be a failure!:_

_ :Is that what your kind thinks?:_ Kyuumaru wondered. _:How foolish. The right human can make you far stronger than you would ever be in the wild. How would that make you a failure?:_

_ :You're just a stupid human's slave,:_ the zorua grumbled. _:I couldn't expect you to understand.:_

A flash of rage sparked in Kyuumaru's chest and he removed the tail from his prisoner to press his front paw on its neck. _:Don't you dare call my Mito-sama stupid you foolish child!:_

_ :All humans are dumb,:_ the zorua insisted. _:They're so easy to fool that even newly hatched pups can do it! That's why I'd be a failure if I gave in to one—they're so stupid that if I can't avoid being caught by one than I'm…I'm even stupider.:_ The little black fox's defiance faded into a whimper. _:I'm so stupid for running away from home…:_

_:…You ran away from home?:_ Kyuumaru slowly removed his forepaw from the zorua's neck. _:Why?:_

_ :They always treated me like a baby,:_ it pouted. _:They wouldn't let me try the harder training exercises that my brothers were working on. My uncles wouldn't take me with them when they planned raids on human campsites. Mommy always says "when you're older" and I never am old enough for anything!:_ It slapped an angry paw on the ground. _:I'll never get to be a zoroark and be cool like Mommy!:_

_ :So you left home seeking evolution?:_ Kyuumaru summarized. _:That can be hard to do on your own. A human can help you…:_

The zorua—which Kyuumaru was guessing was female now that he'd gotten a good long sniff—shook her body angrily, as if to deny his advice.

_:What have you got to lose?:_ he asked. _:It doesn't seem likely that you'll be returned to the land that you came from. So either waste your time fighting your new master, or try and make the best of your new situation and give this human a chance. The choice is yours.:_

_ :I don't like either choice!:_ she snarled. _:I want to go home!:_

_:We can't always have what we want,:_ Kyuumaru muttered, gazing off into the distance. _I'd very much like for my Mito-sama to come back to me…_

_ :But that's not fair!:_ the zorua wailed.

_:Life isn't fair!:_ he barked at her, bristling. The little black fox recoiled from him and he reined in his temper, reminding himself that she was just a pup, a stupid, stupid pup. _:We just have to deal with what life hands us. That's part of growing up.:_

_ :It's too hard,:_ she mumbled.

_:No one ever said that growing up was easy,:_ Kyuumaru shrugged and padded over to lay in front of the shrine doorway. _:Now run along. If you aren't here to admire the shrine, you have no business lingering.:_

_:Well…well why are __**you**__ "lingering"?:_ she asked.

_:My duty is to protect this place, so I don't "linger", I guard,:_ Kyuumaru replied.

_:What does a bunch of rocks need protecting from?:_ the zorua wondered.

_:Mito-sama restored these ruins and they are a point of pride for all Uzumaki,:_ he explained._ :Once a band of Kurohi came in the night to try and destroy the shrine as an act of revenge and if I had not been here they would've succeeded!:_

The zorua cocked her head in confusion. _:Uzumaki? Kurohi? Revenge? …Revenge for what?:_

_ :The Uzumaki is my Mito-sama's clan, and the Kurohi is another clan that resides in this land. Long before Mito-sama was born the two clans had a series of disagreements that grew into a full-on blood feud. The two clans fought all of the time with their monster companions, their blades, their fists…monsters and humans got hurt, and some even died.:_ He shook his head sadly. _:There have been many feuds between the ten families on these islands, but the one between the Uzumaki and the Kurohi is the longest and the ugliest.:_

_ :Uzumaki…:_ The small black fox rubbed at her nose with a red paw. _:Those humans said that name a few times. This feud thing isn't still going on, is it? I'm not going to die for a human.:_

_ :It's…:_ Kyuumaru frowned in thought. _:I…I think it's over. I haven't heard anything about in a long time…a very long time.:_

_ :Wouldn't your Mito-sama tell you if the feud was done?:_ she asked.

_:As long as Mito-sama lived, the feud was active,:_ the ninetales muttered. _:She is…dead. Has been for a very, very, very long time.:_

The black fox squinted at him. _:How old are you?:_

_ :…I've lost track,:_ he answered and then shook himself. _:That's not important. I've already told you to leave once and you're still here. Find your master or wander off into the wilds; whatever you want to do.:_

The zorua didn't move.

_:If you don't leave, I'll make you leave,:_ Kyuumaru warned.

_:You can't make me leave if you can't see me,:_ she retorted.

Her blue eyes started to glow—

Kyuumaru blinked and she had vanished into thin air. He leapt to his paws and looked around, but saw no trace of the odd foreign fox. The fur along his spine stood on end and his nine tails started to lash in agitation.

_What strange power is this?_

_"Hehehe~!"_ the invisible fox giggled. _:Bet you can't find me, old man!:_

The ninetales growled and narrowed his eyes.

_This pup is very young and foolish indeed if she thinks that this is the time to play games with me…_


	18. Part XVIII

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XVIII_

"So?"

Minato paused in his study of an alley and looked over his shoulder at Genma. He and his agent had fallen a bit behind of the main search group as they surveyed the residential fringes of Uzu Town for the runaway zorua. Genma raised a questioning eyebrow and his toothpick twitched at the corner of his mouth, while Zang the zangoose faithfully mimicked him with a little twig in his teeth.

"Finding you in bed with a hot red-head wasn't too horribly shocking seeing as you've mentioned having a girlfriend before," Genma commented. "But a blond-haired 'mini-you' popping up with no warning…"

"I said that I was sorry," Minato sighed and motioned for Senkou to quit sniffing around the alley trashcans. "I should've mentioned before that I had more than a girlfriend."

"Yeah," Genma nodded. "How old is that kid?"

"He'll be thirteen in the fall," Minato replied. "That's the reason I set October tenth off-limits for scheduling anything."

"That's an awful long time to not tell me about him," Genma remarked.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Minato responded as they followed along in the wake of Kushina and the children, double-checking the hiding places that they'd already examined. "_I_ didn't know about him until fairly recently."

"You didn't…" Genma frowned. "But if your girlfriend is the boy's mother, and he's _twelve_… I don't get it."

"It's complicated," Minato shrugged uncomfortably. "She disappeared on me before Naruto was born, and…" He shook his head. "It's just a mess. Although now it's more or less sorted out."

"Ah." Genma removed his toothpick and waved it at the blond man. "You know, even though the two biggest networks pulled out all their people this morning, there are still some cameramen from the smaller news organizations around. And just because I didn't see any tabloid reporters that I recognized doesn't mean that there aren't any snooping around for something juicy, and they'll stick around the longest."

"I know," Minato grimaced. "But I didn't expect for either of them to show up here. Kushina has family in the area, but she doesn't get along with them and never expressed any interest in returning to her childhood home. And Naruto has no real reason to be here either—he doesn't know any of Kushina's family and the local gym badges don't count towards the Land of Fire's Pokémon League."

"Well, you might want to have a talk with the kid about staying under the radar, or take him camping for a week or something until _all_ of the reporters are gone," Genma suggested, slipping the toothpick back between his teeth. "A gossip magazine is going run with a 'secret son' story over a…um…some rumor about 'meowths that bark' or—"

"Wait," Minato interrupted and stopped walking. "Wait a minute…"

"What?" Genma wondered. "What did I say?"

"That meowth that jumped on Kushina and sounded like it was barking earlier… That's exactly what we're looking for!" Minato shook his head and jogged to catch up with Kushina and let her know about it. _I can't believe that I forgot about that! And considering how long ago that was and how fast it was running…it's definitely out of Uzu Town by now._

* * *

><p>Ken-Ichi admittedly was only half-paying attention to the search. Since he had delivered the young trainers to his long-lost aunt, who seemed to know Uzu Town fairly well, he should head to his mother's house to start serving out his grounding. But the thought of being restricted to the house unless chores or errands took him outside for a whole week was more than enough encouragement for him to press his luck.<p>

His eyes drifted yet again to his mysterious Aunt Kushina as she peeked into a scraggly hedge in search of the missing pokémon with a determined scowl on her face. She possessed most of the features that he was used to seeing on his female relations, but she dressed in a fashion that surely scandalized his Great Aunt Asuka. It seemed fairly ordinary for women on the mainland to run around in pants but for someone who had supposedly been born in Whirlpool…

Then there was the fact that she apparently was one of the participants in the battle that they'd seen the tail-end of. Again, such a thing appeared to be fairly common on the mainland, but was almost unheard of among women from Whirlpool. And not only had she battled alongside a man, against other men, she'd been an asset instead of a liability.

_I know that women can lead pokémon in battle—I saw it happen on the mainland, and Mito-sama supposedly did it centuries ago…_

He shook his head.

_…How can she be related to Aunt Akane? I just don't see it._

The blond man jogged up to his aunt, grasped her shoulder, and whispered something into her ear. According to the Sakura girl he was the champion of the Land of Fire's Pokémon League. He didn't look particularly impressive to Ken-Ichi and he wondered why the man was in Whirlpool since the Sakura girl denied that the champion had any blood relation to his blond cousin.

"Great!" his aunt huffed in response to whatever the foreign champion had told her. "Okay everybody, slight change of plans. We're heading out of town."

"I'm going to have to bow out," Genma the toothpick man sighed from his position near the back. "I'm no good beyond the bounds of civilization. Sorry."

"It's alright, thanks for the help," the champion smiled and waved as the other man and his zangoose turned and wandered back towards the heart of town.

"Why are we heading out to the wilds?" Naruto asked. "Isn't there still a lot of the town to check?"

"We encountered a pokémon that had to be this zorua in disguise earlier," his odd aunt explained. "It surprised us and then we got sidetracked by the battle."

"Gah!" Naruto cried. "Let's go then!"

The red-haired woman turned and led them down a street that went from asphalt to dirt, and led out of town. In less than ten minutes the houses dramatically thinned out and then stopped altogether to be replaced by tall grass, shrubs, and pine trees. Then, at a weathered stone marker that officially signified the end of Uzu Town, she stopped and brought them all to a halt.

"Okay, time to call in all of the troops," she announced, and released several other pokémon in addition to her vaporeon.

There was the feraligatr that he'd seen from the battle, which surprised him as he'd assumed that the venusaur had been hers instead of the monstrous crocodile. She also had a starmie, a kabutops, and a female gyarados. The starmie seemed normal enough, but a dangerous fossil monster and a _gyarados_ left him almost astonished.

The foreign champion followed her lead and set loose his other five monsters to join his jolteon. The venusaur that Ken-Ichi seen earlier belonged to him, and he also possessed a poliwrath, a ninetales, a dragonite, and a gyarados. All the monsters looked fairly impressive, but the one that really stole his attention was the gyarados since it looked like it had escaped from the mosaic in his grandfather's gym wall.

_It's…it's…__**red**__!_

"Eee! He has a red gyarados!" Sakura breathed.

"…That's new," Sasuke remarked, a hint of awe in his voice.

"You guys haven't seen Akai before?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"No," the pink-haired girl spluttered. "You knew he had a red gyarados and didn't tell us?"

"You never asked," Naruto shrugged.

"C'mon kids," his aunt said before Sakura could chastise the blond boy for not sharing. "Call out all your walking or flying monsters. The more eyes we have looking, the better."

Naruto immediately responded to his mother's suggestion. He released his silver ninetales and the aerodactyl that he'd used against Katsuro outside of the Safari Zone to join his pikachu. He hesitated over a pokéball and a safari-ball, but declined to call upon his two eevees.

Sasuke followed his example and called upon several other monsters to help his charmeleon. The black-haired boy also had a luxray, a pupitar, and a shelgon. He also let out his eevee from the Safari Zone, but he left his other safari-ball on his belt.

After the two boys had chosen their monster helpers, Sakura hurried to do the same. In addition to her torchic, she summoned her espeon, a chansey, a cherrim, an ivysaur, and an axew. Once she had opened all of her monster capsules the pink-haired girl looked to his aunt for further instruction.

Ken-Ichi glanced down at Gamera and reached for his ball belt—

"Ken-Ichi?"

The teenager gave a guilty start, but it was his father not his mother, who had found him this time. His dad had probably been taking the scenic route into town to mail some bills, as was his habit. Ken-Ichi gave a little wave of greeting as his father approached.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey." His father eyed the trainers and the menagerie of monsters before putting his full focus on his son. "Welcome back. Have you seen your mother yet?"

"Yeah," Ken-Ichi grimaced. "I'm grounded again."

His father scowled. "What for?"

"For breaking my promise to stick with Katsuro and Hayato so that I would be safe in a foreign country," Ken-Ichi grumbled. _Translation: For daring to grow up and deciding to be like you and associate myself with the monsters that she hates so much. You know, the same reason as always…_

"That woman…" his father sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll talk to her about that."

"You don't have to—" Ken-Ichi protested.

"Kenshin!" his aunt cried and seemed to magically appear at his father's side. "You're just in time to help!"

"Help with what?" his dad asked warily.

"With finding a runaway pokémon," she answered and whipped out her pokédex to show him a picture of a zorua. "That's what it's supposed to look like, but it has illusion powers that can make it look like anything."

"…What the heck is it?" his father scowled.

"It's called a zorua; it's something rare from overseas," his aunt replied.

"Well…alright," he agreed. "I'll give it a shot."

With that, his father started letting loose his team one at a time. Gill the swampert came first, followed by Whitewater the gyarados, Scythe the kabutops, Claw the crawdaunt, Finn the floatzel, and Tentamaru the tentacruel. When they were all assembled he briefly borrowed the red-headed woman's pokédex and showed them the picture.

While his father was caught up on the plan, Ken-Ichi went about calling upon all the monsters that he felt would be useful. Since his cradily, Rooty, was on the slow side he held the fossil plant back. Hurricane his gyarados was the first out, closely followed by Nemo the eevee, Venom the nidorino, and Ottaro the oshawott.

"Alright!" his aunt cried, clapping her hands to draw all attention to her. "We all spread out from this point to maximize our search area, but keep close enough so that no one gets lost. Flush out anything in your path and look for something out-of-place…like a pokémon that barks, and isn't supposed to. Every hour we stop and check in together. Everybody got that?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives and the woman nodded firmly.

"Great. Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed and took off at a jog with his three loose monsters in tow. "C'mon Kitsune, where are you?"

"Naruto, wait up!" Sakura complained as she and her pokémon started off on her path to the right of the dirt road.

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered and led his creatures in a third direction.

Ken-Ichi gestured for his minions to come along and walked in a fourth direction.

"So the blond kid is the one who lost the pokémon?" he heard his father say from behind him. "Who is he exactly?"

"Find his Kistune and we'll talk about it," his aunt promised. "Now you go left, I'll right, and Minato will go to the other right."

_…She's weird,_ Ken-Ichi decided as Hurricane drove a small flock of pidgey skyward. _It's like she was born a mainlander instead of an Uzumaki. If only I could tell if that's a good or a bad thing…_

* * *

><p><em>This brat is more trouble than she's worth,<em> Demon grumbled as he startled a pack of rattata out of some bushes. _I hope he sends her off to storage after we find her this time. Maybe a year or two of gathering dust will teach her a lesson._

The silver ninetales sighed and trotted along to Naruto's left, alert for anything that didn't look right, sound right, or smell right. Bolt was to the boy's right, doing the same thing. Ginsu had been flying above them, but he'd kept getting distracted by all the tasty-looking birds that flew out of the grass and he'd kept looking at the two kabutops like he was considering eating them, so Naruto had called him back.

To his left Demon could see some of the pink-haired girl's pokémon combing through the grass and brush with their human. Shamo the torchic kept getting lost in the tangle of tall grasses and bushes, and the pink-haired girl had to keep stopping to free him. Dawn the espeon quietly fussed over trying to find a dark-type pokémon and how that rendered her psychic powers practically useless. Cherry the cherrim looked especially droopy due to the gloomy gray sky and the closed flower mostly just rode on Pinky the chansey's head while the egg-carrier searched for the both of them. Briar the ivysaur marched along, probing hiding places with his vines as he went. And the odd tusked dragon that Sakura had named Lizzie searched under protest, having no love for the tricky black fox.

To Bolt's right, Demon could make out most of the black-haired boy's monsters. Grimm the eevee was so small and blended in so well with most of the dry tall grasses that he was nearly invisible. Rex the pupitar, being little more than a bouncing spiky rock, threw himself around to crush the undergrowth and flush out terrified wild pokémon. Wyvern the shelgon was little better, plowing through grasses and bushes like a round little tank on stubby legs. Dragon the charmeleon was careful not to set anything on fire with his tail flame and every now and then muttered something about his back itching and wanting to fly. Lion the luxray was thoroughly bored with his searching duty and used his _intimidate_ ability and electrical sparks to clear the ground in front of him of hiding monsters.

The ground was growing increasingly hilly so Demon couldn't see much of the others, but with Naruto's parents, two other trainers, and all of their pokémon helping out, there was no way for Kitsune to hide.

_Why is she so determined to run away?_ Demon frowned. _There's no way for her to return to her old home, and whether or not she listens to him, Naruto's still going to give her free food. Hanging around with humans is a lot easier than trying to make it out in the wild, especially when you're far away from anything familiar._

Demon paused as he crested another hill to take a look around—

Something black disappeared down the backside of the next hill to quickly for the ninetales to determine what it was.

"Kitsune!" Naruto cried and took off running. "Hey, wait up!"

_:Wait!:_ Demon snarled as he hurried to catch up. _:That might not be her!:_

_ :I bet it is,:_ Bolt countered as he hopped onto Naruto's backpack. _:It had better be her, I'm sick of chasing her around!:_

Naruto slid down the hill and struggled up the slope of the next one. Deaf to the warnings of his friends to slow down and wait, the blond boy charged over the top of the hill—

—And ran straight into something that he didn't expect.

_:What weird-looking horses,:_ Bolt squeaked.

Five black horse-like creatures with white jagged stripes stood frozen at the sudden appearance of a human and two pokémon. They'd been grazing and moving further to the interior of the island. Demon had no idea what they were and tensed in preparation for anything…

_:What are you?:_ Bolt asked the odd pokémon.

"Aren't those…blitzle?" Naruto muttered, clearly very confused. "Those shouldn't be there…should they?"

_:A human!:_ one cried.

_:A human, a human, a human!:_ a second anxiously agreed.

_:Big Brother, help us!:_ a third brayed. _:Big Brother!:_

"Maybe one of them is Kitsune," Naruto guessed. "Bolt, hit them with _thunder-shocks_!"

_:Gotcha!:_ Bolt nodded and hopped down from Naruto's back to attack.

The pikachu fired several weak bolts of electricity at the tiny herd of blitzle…to no effect. The attacks aimed at two of the blitzle missed completely, drawn away to strike at one of the other three. And those that were hit looked completely unaffected, like they didn't even feel it as electricity danced over their bodies.

"What the heck?" Naruto frowned. "Bolt, try hitting those last two with _quick attacks_!"

_:Okay!:_ Bolt agreed and blurred in to crash into the flank of one of the untouched blitzle.

_:Ow! Big Brother!:_ it cried, bucking and rearing. _:Where are you?:_

'Big Brother', whatever that was, failed to appear and Bolt successfully attacked the second untouched blitzle, and it too proved to be the real thing and not Kitsune in disguise.

"Aw, man…" Naruto sighed. "Demon, scare 'em off with _roar_."

Bolt scampered back to wait by Naruto's feet while Demon trotted forward to chase the wild pokémon away.

"It's too bad," Naruto muttered. "If we weren't looking for Kitsune, I might try and catch one. I thought that blitzle were from farther away than here. Maybe we can track them down later…"

Demon faced the nervously stamping and snorting blitzle, sucked in a deep breath, and—

_:Leave my friends alone!:_

The ninetales barely turned in time to see the black blur covered in electricity that slammed into him. Demon bounced once and skidded several feet from the force of the blow, and his body twitched from the shock. When he tried to regain his feet, he found his limbs to be less than responsive and felt the painful tingle that he associated with paralysis.

The surprise attacker looked very similar to the blitzle, but was much larger and clearly more evolved. It reared, brayed, and pawed at the air with its front hooves as tiny sparks of electricity flickered over its body. When it caught on that Demon was paralyzed, it turned an angry glare to Bolt and Naruto.

_:Run my friends!:_ it cried. _:I'll take care of this. They won't put us in boxes again!:_

The large zebra pawed at the ground, shrouded itself in thin streamers of flame, and charged at the boy and the electric mouse.

_:Take this!:_ Bolt squeaked and fired off a powerful _thunderbolt_…that did absolutely nothing. _:Huh?:_

Naruto grabbed the stunned pikachu and rolled out of the way at the last moment.

_:You missed, Big Brother!:_ one of the blitzles—none of which had fled yet—neighed.

The monster zebra wheeled around and charged again, moving even faster this time. Demon managed to get back to his feet by this point and the silver ninetales tried to trap the attacking pokémon in a _fire spin_, but it missed by inches. The striped monster kept on running and it didn't look like Naruto was going to be able to react in time—

_WHAM!_

The bigger zebra was knocked completely off its feet, it bounced almost half-a-dozen times, and when it finally stopped moving it was out cold. In the space where the black-and-white monster had been fractions of seconds before, Ryuu the dragonite touched down as lightly as a feather after a few wing beats. The dragon folded his forearms over his chest and gravely surveyed the scene in the mini-valley between the hills.

_:Saved,:_ Demon sighed and sank to the ground as his muscles tingled.

"Naruto!" Sakura squawked as she picked her way down the hillside with Sasuke and some of their pokémon. "We told you to wait—are those blitzle? And is that a zebstrika? What are they doing here?"

"I dunno," Naruto shrugged as he warily stood up and dusted himself off. "All I saw were the blitzle, and then the zebstrika tried to trample me!" He put Bolt down, un-shouldered his bag, and started digging through it. "Where's my berry pouch?"

_:Big Brother!:_ the blitzles bleated. _:Get up Big Brother! We need to run away!:_

_ :You five run along,:_ Ryuu rumbled. _:Your friend will catch up with you when he wakes up.:_

_:The humans will take him away and put him in a box!:_ the boldest of the five declared, stamping a hoof. _:Why are you helping them? Help us instead!:_

_ :What are you talking about?:_ Bolt complained.

_:Why would anyone put him in a box?:_ Ryuu frowned. _:If he's put in anything, it would be a pokéball and there's nothing really terrible about that. It just feels kind of weird at first.:_

_:No one's taking Big Brother anywhere!:_ another blitzle cried, and the other four agreed.

_:Calm down and walk away,:_ Ryuu advised.

_:Or better yet, come at me!:_ Dragon the charmeleon bellowed in challenge, placing himself in front of the blitzle. _:I've been itching for a good fight all day!:_

The anxious bliztle milled around at a safe distance. Some were ready to fight and some were ready to flee. Dragon grinned and slipped into an aggressive ready stance with his claws raised high.

_:Can I help?:_ Bolt asked the charmeleon eagerly.

_:I want to help!:_ Briar the ivysaur volunteered.

A turtle shell with a curly white tail hanging out of it rolled down the hillside and came to a stop when the wartortle extended all of its limbs. _:A fight? Count me in!:_

_ :What's going on down there?:_ Crusher the feraligatr demanded from the hilltop.

_:Is there a fight?:_ Senkou the jolteon asked as he bounded on to the scene. _:Where? Where?:_

With more and more pokémon arriving on the scene, the blitzle lost their courage and eventually they broke and ran.

Dragon was not pleased with this development. _:Rah! You fools scared them all away!:_

_ :Who are you calling a fool?:_ Crusher demanded with a growl as he stomped down the hill.

"Found it!" Naruto cheered and scampered over to where Demon lay waiting with a cheri berry. "That should make you feel better."

Demon gulped down the little red berry and sighed as the painful twitches and tingles of his paralysis faded and he was able to move without difficulty. _Much better…_

"What happened?" Naruto's mother demanded as she arrived along with Naruto's father. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, Mom, I'm fine!" Naruto yelled back.

"A wild zebstrika tried to trample him," Sasuke told her.

"What on earth is this thing?" A man that Demon was unfamiliar with asked as he warily studied the unconscious zebstrika.

"It's a foreign pokémon, Dad," Ken-Ichi said. "They had stuff like this in the Safari Zone that I visited."

"Huh," the red-haired woman frowned. "I suppose I should get that for Professor Utatane—"

The zebstrika dissolved into light and was drawn into a basic pokéball. Since it was totally out, the ball barely wiggled before the capture field stabilized and the red light went out. And a fraction a second later the ball itself turned into light and flashed skyward on its way into storage.

Demon cocked his head. _:Who caught that?:_

"…Minato?" Naruto's mother said.

"Yeah?" The blond man glanced up from his pokédex screen. "Oh, did you want that zebstrika? It's an electric-type so I didn't think that you'd want it. …Or did someone else want it?"

_That thing was just an electric type?_ Demon frowned and flattened his ears. _How was it using fire then?_

"No," she sighed. "I'll just have to take you to see Professor Utatane so that she can see it, that's all."

"Okay," Naruto's father agreed and sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head. "Well…has anyone seen any trace of the zorua?"

A chorus of negative replies answered him.

"Since no one's hurt and we haven't found it yet," Naruto's mother sighed, "let's get back to looking—"

A rolling rumble of thunder interrupted her.

"…Great," she huffed and glowered and the darkening clouds.

_:I thought it smelled like a storm,:_ Ryuu remarked.

Demon cringed. _I hate it when it rains…_


	19. Part XIX

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XIX_

Kyuumaru narrowed his eyes as he stared down at his prey.

…And his prey stared right back up at him, unrepentant.

_:You just got lucky!:_ the little black fox sniffed and struggled underneath the paw that pinned her to the ground. _:You won't catch me again!:_

_ :That's what you claimed the last time, and the time before that, and even the time before __**that**__!:_ Kyuumaru growled. _:Every time I let you up, you try to make a fool out of me instead of leaving like I've told you to.:_

It had been unnerving the first time that the zorua creature had seemed to vanish into thin air. He'd almost tried setting the hilltop on fire to try and flush her out. But then he saw a rock that didn't belong and a little poking destroyed the illusion, revealing the monster inside.

She'd tried to trick him several times after that without much success. Her scent was faint and subtle so he'd tracked her by sound. The bell jingled every time that she moved and whenever she thought she'd done something incredibly clever she would giggle. Once he caught on to what she was doing and how to keep track of her, it was painfully easy to win her little game.

_:Let me up, let me up, let me up!:_ she cried, swatting ineffectually at his front paw with both of hers.

He pressed a little harder on her chest. _:No. If I do that, you'll just make yourself appear to be invisible again and try to make me look silly.:_

_ :No I won't,:_ she claimed.

_:I don't believe you,: _Kyuumaru scowled. _:This is neither the time nor the place for playing!:_

The zorua squirmed and wriggled and tried to get free of Kyuumaru's paw, but her efforts were in vain.

_:…Tell me, what is your name?:_ Kyuumaru demanded.

_:I don't have a name,:_ she denied.

_:That bell around your neck indicates differently,:_ the ninetales snorted. _:It tells me that you belong with a human, and humans give their monsters names.:_

_ :Would you get this bell off for me?:_ she asked, giving him the puppy eyes. _:I've been trying to get it off for days!:_

_ :No,:_ Kyuumaru replied. _:Why would you want it off? It has a very sweet chime to it.:_

_ :It ruins my illusions!:_ the zorua growled. _:It's so much harder to hide!:_

_ :When you are under the care of a human, you shouldn't need to hide,:_ he retorted. _:Now what is your name? Or better yet, what is your human's name? And where might I find him or her?:_

_:I don't know,:_ she muttered, turning her head away. _:All that matters to me is that I got away from him. And I tricked him really good, too!:_

A growl of thunder and a gust of cool, damp air interrupted Kyuumaru's response. The ninetales looked skyward and cringed as he saw angry black clouds rolling in. He'd seen all kinds of weather in his long life and those coming clouds promised hours of heavy rain, maybe even some hail.

_:You must go,: _he insisted. _:It's going to rain.:_

_ :Can't I stay with you?:_ she whined.

_:No,:_ he scoffed. _:My den is barely large enough for myself alone. There is no room for guests.:_

_ :What about in there?:_ the little black fox asked, pointing one red paw towards the stone shrine. _:It looks roomy.:_

_ :That is not a place to shelter from weather!:_ Kyuumaru growled. _:That is a sacred site meant for prayer and meditation!:_

_ :So?:_ she sniffed. _:It looks big and dry. Let's hide in there.:_

_ :Absolutely not!:_ he snapped.

More thunder boomed overhead, louder, clearer, and closer than before. Flickers of lightning flashed through gaps in the threatening clouds. It was clear that he had very little time to find a solution to this problem before it started to rain.

Kyuumaru's mind raced towards a satisfactory solution. He couldn't leave her out in the terrible storm, yet there was no acceptable shelter on the hill. She didn't know where her human was and had no idea how to find him, but there wasn't much that he could do to help her return to where she belonged…

_:…You said that you knew the name Uzumaki?:_ Kyuumaru asked.

_:I thought I heard it mentioned a few times,:_ she muttered, swatting at his paw to try and free herself again. _:It's such a weird-sounding name. Why do humans invent such weird words and names?:_

He chewed over his limited options again, and came to a decision.

The ninetales lifted his paw, and before the zorua could flee he caught the ribbon around her neck in his teeth. He lifted her off the ground by her scruff and she obligingly curling into a ball even as she started to complain. And then as the first sprinkles of rain started to fall, he took off at a run.

_I know exactly where to take you…_

_ …I think._

* * *

><p>Inaho cringed as thunder rattled the windows of the Pokémon Center and prayed that the weather wouldn't knock out the power. Since her crappy motel didn't offer an internet connection or a computer terminal of any kind, she'd set up camp here. Now, after making some calls to Komugi and setting him to sifting through all kinds of archives, she was hot on the trail of evidence of a prior relationship between Minato Namikaze and this mysterious Kushina Uzumaki woman.<p>

_This nasty weather might actually be a good thing,_ she mused. _If it doesn't knock out the electricity but storms badly enough I won't be able to leave and I'll get to stay here for the night. Since it's an emergency, there's no way that the staff can try to kick me out because I'm an adult and not a real pokémon trainer!_

And she'd need as much time as she could get on these computers to gather the information that she hoped to find. The Pokémon League of the Land of Fire had no centralized database for all of the different kinds of tournaments in all the different cities so it was an almighty pain to do the kind of research that she was attempting. To find the correlations that she was looking for, she needed to search for tournaments and dive into the records for each one individually and seek out the names. Komugi was doing most of the searching, since he had a real aptitude for it, but she knew that she had to pull her own weight on this project, too.

Her main focus was on doubles tournaments as that would definitely prove some kind of previous relationship between the two people, but other kinds of tournaments that they both participated in at the same time would also count as evidence. She wanted to know how often they crossed paths, the first time it was documented, and the last time. And once she knew that, she could move on to stage two: digging up whatever she could on the mystery woman herself.

_I really hate spreadsheets,_ she sighed and rubbed at her eyes as she scrolled through a fresh batch of lists. _Ugh, my eyes are starting to burn…_

_ Ping!_

Inaho blinked and switched browser tabs to check her e-mail account.

"He's got some results already?"

With a shrug, she opened the message that Komugi had just sent her. He'd listed a few tournament names with dates and hyperlinks to the relevant archive pages. When she studied the dates and did some quick and sloppy mental math, her eyebrows rose towards her hairline.

_This has got to be the first time that they officially fought together! And if I'm guesstimating right, Minato Namikaze was only a few months into his pokémon journey when this doubles tournament took place! My oh my oh my…_

Lightning flashed and a terrific clap of thunder made the desk attendant shriek, but Inaho was oblivious.

_I do believe I've found my ticket to a real journalism job!_

* * *

><p>"But we should keep looking!" Naruto protested as the rainfall steadily increased.<p>

"When the rain stops will get right back on it, and we'll have even more searchers," his mother promised, and then started muttering under her breath. "I wish that we'd gotten far enough to take shelter in the lab… This is going to be awful."

"But Mom—"

There was a terrific crash and a blinding flash as a lightning bolt struck something on the ground a few miles away.

"Eyah!" Sakura yelped and latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"This weather's too nasty," his mother responded. "Wherever your zorua is, it'll be taking cover, too."

Naruto huffed and followed her lead with a pout on his face.

As soon as the storm started to roll in, his parents had put a stop to the search effort. All of the searching pokémon had been returned to confinement, starting off with those that would be most affected by the rain. And then all of them had struck out for Ken-Ichi's father's house at a jog in hopes of staying dry.

The rain had caught them less than a minute later.

"Do you think the storm will end before dark?" Ken-Ichi asked his father, raising his voice a little to be heard over the wind and thunder.

"Maybe," the man shrugged. "Ah, here we are."

Up ahead near the edge of the sea cliffs crouched a house. It was a dark shape with glowing windows that was silhouetted briefly by more flickers of lightning. There wasn't much time for Naruto to study the place as the rain started coming down in heavy sheets and everyone started running.

There was a crush at the door as all seven of them tried to get through the space at the same time. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura managed to get inside first and tried to stumble out of the way of the others while peeling off their puddle-filled shoes, shrugging off their damp packs, and wringing out their soaked clothing. His mother mumbled curses as she squeezed out her long hair and Ken-Ichi's father pushed through the press by the door calling for towels. It was a chaotic mess that somehow brought Naruto into the house's living room with a towel on his head—

_Who are these people?_

Several adults already were in the living room clustered around a television set that was tuned to a news channel. Two men with orange-red hair and identical faces set on the couch with a black-haired man sandwiched between them, and all three looked confused as Naruto and his group filtered into the room. On a second couch was an old woman in a kimono and stitching away at an embroidery hoop, with a second scrap of cloth and thread sitting beside her. And an old man with a stern face of stone sat in an armchair, studying each of them with the slightest of frowns.

"Sorry, Dad," Ken-Ichi's father sighed as he rubbed at his head with a towel. "I wasn't able to make it to the post office before the rain."

The old man's eyes lingered on Naruto long enough for the boy to start squirming.

"…That's alright," the man in the armchair replied. "It can wait until tomorrow."

A phone rang somewhere in the house and a moment later another lady in a kimono with wavy red-brown hair appeared with more towels under one arm and a phone on a long curly cord in the other hand.

"Kenshin," she squeaked. "It's Suzume for you…"

"Thanks, Akane," Ken-Ichi's father sighed, took the phone from her, and retreated to a different part of the house to talk.

Ken-Ichi watched him go with an anxious look before slinking over to the larger couch where the three men were sitting and squeezed in on the left side of the trio.

"So, Kushina," the old man in the arm chair folded his hands in his lap. "What's all this?"

"Well…Naruto got separated from one of his pokémon and we were helping his friends find it," his mother explained. "And—"

"What sort of name is that?" the man with black hair snorted.

"Didn't you name your kid that?" one of the orange-haired twins wondered.

"That can't be him, though," the other added. "He doesn't look a thing like you."

Naruto stared at them, too confused by the current situation to feel insulted.

"Actually," his mother replied tensely, dropping a hand on the boy's damp shoulder. "Naruto _is_ my son."

The room fell silent except for the droning voice of the news anchor from the television. And then it seemed like all of the strange adults started talking at once. The men on the couch made remarks of disbelief and questioned his hair color, the younger woman in the kimono gushed at how adorable he was, and the old woman paused in her stitchery and scowled at Naruto critically. The old man in the armchair let this go on for a minute or two before clapping his hands twice.

"Quiet down," the old man commanded. He didn't shout, he barely raised his voice, but the effect was nearly instant. He gestured to Naruto's mother. "Please, continue."

"Okay, Naruto's friends are his old classmates: Sasuke Uchiha," she pointed to the black-haired boy, "and Sakura Haruno," she gestured to the pink-haired girl. Then Naruto's mother started pointing out all the strange adults and naming them. "Kids, this is my father"—the man in the armchair—"my brother, Arashi"—the black-haired man on the couch—"my other brothers, Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora"—the twins that sat on either side of Arashi—"my Aunt Asuka"—the old woman on the smaller couch—"my cousin, Akane"—the pretty woman in the kimono—"and you've already met Kenshin and Ken-Ichi…so that's everyone."

_Oh,_ Naruto blinked, _so this is Mom's family…_

"So where did he get that yellow hair?" Arashi asked.

"From his father, of course," Naruto's mother snorted.

Arashi frowned. "And who is—"

"He's just so adorable!" Akane squeaked, unable to contain herself, and she gathered Naruto up into a hug. "I wish I had a little boy like him."

"Gah!" Naruto yelped and tried to wriggle free. "Hey! Mom, help!"

"Akane," his mother half-growled.

"Could we have some tea to warm up?" Naruto's father asked.

"Oh, of course, of course!" Akane smiled and bustled off to the kitchen to brew some up after patting Naruto on the head.

Naruto pouted and tried to fix his hair, not that it made any difference.

"Arashi, bring in some chairs from the dining room so that everyone can sit down," the old man—Naruto's grandfather—ordered.

"Fine, fine," Arashi grumbled and trudged off to do as he was told.

"So, young man," the grandfather said, putting his full attention on Naruto. "What pokémon did you lose?"

His mother's father didn't look angry or mean, but he also lacked the friendly open face that he was accustomed to seeing on Professor Sarutobi's face. The man was a complete stranger to him, his expression was unreadable to Naruto, and that made him rather intimidating to the young blond. Naruto picked at his damp clothes and resisted the urge to shuffle closer to his mother.

"I lost a zorua, sir," Naruto replied.

The old man frowned slightly. "A what?"

"A zorua, it's a rare pokémon that I got in the Safari Zone," Naruto explained.

"I've never heard of it," the grandfather said.

"Well it's rare and it's only recently become legal to import it to this part of the world so I'm not surprised," Naruto's mother remarked, then started digging around in her pocket for her pokédex. "Here, I'll show you a picture—"

"You let a TV crew into your gym, Grandpa?" Ken-Ichi asked, squinting at the television screen that was playing the news program.

"Yes I did," the old man nodded, looking vaguely embarrassed as he glanced at the TV. "This is supposed to be a 'world' news program, what are they doing talking about me?"

"It's not every day that you lose on the first go-round, Dad," Arashi muttered as he returned, awkwardly carrying a wooden chair in each hand.

"Grandpa _lost_ on a trainer's first challenge?" Ken-Ichi said blankly. "Quit lying to me, Uncle Arashi! Grandpa doesn't lose; he lets them win when he deems them worthy."

"I dunno, I think it's on the news because Daddy's opponent was a famous foreign trainer," Naruto's mother said dryly. Then she glanced down at her son and winked. "Remember, if you want to see the really cool fight that we're talking about, it'll be broadcast tomorrow night."

"Eh?" Naruto cocked his head. "The fight that's supposed to be even cooler than the one you had in the town square?"

"You got into a fight in town?" the old woman—his mother's aunt—asked, her voice sharp with disapproval.

"So what if I did?" his mother challenged, her tone growing cool. "Minato helped me—not that I needed it—and we trounced our opponents easily. It was quite fantastic, actually. It's too bad that you all missed it."

"Fighting, even through pokémon surrogates, is not proper behavior for a lady," the gray-haired aunt scolded.

"I'm not a lady," his mother snorted. "I'm a _woman_! There's a difference."

The old woman frowned deeply and opened her mouth to respond, but ultimately held her tongue and returned to her embroidery, pulling the colored thread through the fabric with a restrained sort of violence.

"What's up with her?" Naruto asked, tugging a little on his mother's sleeve.

"Aunt Asuka is very…_traditional_," his mom answered with a grimace.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. _What does that mean?_

"Tradition is the cornerstone of our culture," the elderly aunt retorted. "Yet you delight in spitting upon it."

"Fine, whatever!" his mother growled. "I'm not going to argue with you while we're all stuck in this house."

"Hmph," the old lady sniffed and again went back to her stitching.

Naruto scowled at the old woman at the far end of the room. "Do you always fight with her, Mom?"

"Pretty much," she huffed as her brother Arashi brought another two wooden chairs in. "Let's sit down."

_I think I get it,_ Naruto thought as he, Sasuke, and Sakura claimed some of the wooden chairs and arranged them so that they could watch the TV. _If I had to deal with someone as nasty as this aunty lady seems to be, I wouldn't want to ever come home either._

"Now let's talk about something happy and neutral," his mother suggested with a strained smile as she claimed the fourth chair, but didn't sit in it.

"How many badges do you all have?" his father asked as he propped his shoulder against the entryway to the living room.

"I have seven badges," Naruto announced.

"Seven," Sasuke grunted.

"I have five," Sakura squeaked nervously.

"You possess gym badges?" the old lady asked, as if this was highly unusual and not necessarily a good thing.

There was an awkward silence that was punctuated by the whistle of the tea kettle from the kitchen.

"Um, yes?" Sakura swallowed and tugged the towel draped over her shoulders tighter. "I do have two Battle Contest ribbons, too…"

The old woman pursed her lips and shook her head.

"What's wrong with her having gym badges?" Naruto wanted to know.

"The gym challenge is not a pursuit meant for young ladies," his mother's aunt said and locked eyes with a fidgeting Sakura. "My dear, you would be much better served if you put your energy into Contests alone. That is an arena in which women can employ all their grace and creativity and truly shine."

"My mom's never been in any Contest, she has seven badges, and she's perfectly fine!" Naruto declared, folding his arms over his chest.

"…I suppose that I can't blame you for having such badly skewed perceptions since she's your mother," the old woman sighed with a regretful expression. "But Kushina is not the sort of woman that I would encourage young ladies to look up to as a role model."

Naruto saw red and leapt out of his chair.

"You take that back about my mom you nasty old hag—!"

"Tea's done!" Akane chirped as she breezed back into the room with a steaming teakettle and a selection of small cups stacked on a tray and set it all down on the coffee table. "I made green tea, so—oh!" She raised a hand to her mouth when she saw Naruto glaring and pointing aggressively at her mother. "Are we fighting again? I thought that shout came from the TV."

"Sit down, Naruto," his mother muttered, grabbing his shoulders and gently pressing him back into the wooden chair. "You're wasting your time. You can argue with Aunt Asuka until you're blue in the face and she won't budge an inch because she's right and everyone else is always wrong. Trust me, I know from personal experience."

"But, Mom!" Naruto protested. _She's wrong, she's wrong, she's wrong!_

"Don't worry about it," she smiled weakly. "I'm used to it."

_"So awkward…"_ the orange-haired twins muttered in an eerie unison.

"There," Arashi muttered as he dragged in two more wooden chairs and returned to his spot on the couch between the twins. "I brought in chairs."

"Can I pour anyone tea?" Akane asked with a nervous smile.

Naruto slumped in his seat and glowered at the old woman. Akane started pouring small cups of green tea and handing them out to whoever indicated that they wanted some. On the television, a peppy ad for a brand of pokémon treats sharply contrasted with the tense mood in the living room.

Kenshin returned from his phone call then, looking extremely tired, and collapsed onto the last open chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Ken-Ichi asked in concern.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "I think I managed to get your grounding repealed."

"Hey, big bro!" one of the twins spoke up. "Did you know that kid is Kushina's kid?"

"Yeah, did you know?" the other said.

"I caught on to that," Kenshin replied dryly. "The big clue was that while we were searching the hills he kept calling her 'Mom'."

"Speaking of this search," the old grandfather said, leaning back in his armchair. "How—"

_Scritch, scritch, scritch…_

"Eep!" Akane yelped, almost dropping the teakettle. "Something's at the door!"

"Did everyone gather up their pokémon when we halted the search?" Naruto's father asked.

Everyone who had been searching checked their belts but nothing except for the creature that they'd been looking for was gone.

_Scritch, scritch, scritch…_

"I'll see who it is," Ken-Ichi volunteered and the teenager left the couch for the front door just out of sight of the living room doorway. "Huh, what the—?"

A pokémon slipped past the seventeen-year-old into the house and slunk into the living room. It was a ninetales and it was absolutely drenched—its yellow fur was matted down and waterlogged so that it dripped all over the wooden floor and left it looking horribly skinny with really thin tails. The poor thing looked gross and miserable…and dangling from its teeth was something black and red and equally soaked.

_Kitsune?_

_"Kyuumaru?"_ almost all of the adults in the room gasped.

Naruto glanced around the room at their shocked faces and frowned.

_What? What's going on? Who's Kyuumaru?_


	20. Part XX

**Caught in the Whirlpool**

_Part XX_

Kyuumaru was soaked to the bone and more physically miserable than he'd been in years. The house that he'd run to didn't look familiar to him, but it was in the right place to be the Uzumaki Clan house that always was the home of the gym leader. But whether or not it was the house that he was looking for, it was shelter and with the rain coming down as it was he would take whatever he could get.

Once his scratches at the door had been answered, the ninetales pushed past the teenage boy that let him in and stumbled into the warm and dry building interior. Not far from the doorway, he found a room full of humans. A lot of them possessed the physical characteristics that he associated with Mito-sama's clan, but the rest clearly weren't Uzumakis at all.

_"Kyuumaru?"_

He blinked at the exclamation from several adults and after a moment's hesitation set the zorua pup down with a weary wheeze.

"Kyuumaru's all wet!" one of the women gasped, and the humans' shock seemed to be shattered.

"Get more towels," another woman—the one who was not Mito or the other Mito—ordered. "We need to dry him off."

The adult humans stirred into action, rubbing him with damp towels while one scrambled off to fetch dry ones. Kyuumaru relaxed into their ministrations with relief. The sooner he got dry, the better.

"Be careful of that ear," Not-Mito warned.

Through the clump of human bodies that surrounded him, Kyuumaru saw the zorua held in a blond boy's lap being attacked with another towel.

"Mr. Namikaze what's going on?" a non-Uzumaki girl child with pink hair asked.

"This ninetales is highly territorial as I understand, and he supposedly never leaves the hill that he lives on," a non-Uzumaki man answered. "Although, this is the second time that I've seen him away from his home…"

Kyuumaru studied the blond man and belatedly recognized him as the man that he'd assumed was untrustworthy and trained the bratty ninetales that had torn his ear. He was troubled by the stranger's presence in what should be an Uzumaki bastion. The three unknown children also baffled him, but the adult was the one that really held his attention. Were they welcome guests, or—

_I can't worry about it,_ Kyuumaru thought and closed his eyes. _I'm stuck here until the rain stops. We're all stuck here._

The ninetales allowed himself to be led to a corner where a spare sheet was made into a nest for him to curl up in. With most of the water removed from his coat all but one of the humans left him alone. The last human, a woman he vaguely recognized as Akane, knelt beside him and brushed his mussed fur with a grooming brush.

"Poor Kyuumaru," she cooed as she worked. "Soon you'll be all dry and handsome again."

_I'm pretty sure that I remember her. She would come and brush me and plead with me to join her little pokémon dance troupe. …How silly._

"Ah! So this is Kitsune?" Not-Mito—Kushina remarked as she peered at the unhappy black fur ball in the blond boy's lap. "You need to thank Kyuumaru for catching her for you, Naruto."

"How do you know that ninetales's name, Mom?" the boy asked.

Kyuumaru's ruby eyes darted between Kushina and the boy as he compared their features.

_He must be adopted; he doesn't look very Uzumaki-ish at all—_

"He's a living family heirloom, as your mother put it to me," the blond man told the boy—Naruto.

_…Oh,_ the ninetales blinked as he looked at Kushina, Naruto, and the man. _Maybe he isn't adopted, then._

"Yes, he belonged to an ancestor of mine," Kushina nodded. "There are some pictures around here—"

There was a bright flash and a terrible bang—

All the lights went out and the house was plunged into darkness.

"Eeep!"

"Damn it!"

"Ichi-Tora, Ni-Tora, go get the candles and matches."

"_On it!_"

Kyuumaru rested his chin on the edge of his makeshift nest and sighed.

_At least this terrible weather makes it very, very unlikely that I have much to fear from vandals going after the shrine while I'm stuck here…_

* * *

><p>Senkou let himself out of his ball just as hazy morning sunlight pierced the clouds and filtered in through the windows. None of the humans bunked down in the living room or the ninetales nesting in the corner were awake and so he was careful not to wake them as he stretched out and sniffed around. He found Kushina's stash of pokéballs and upon examining them he found that Uzu-chan was already out and about somewhere.<p>

The jolteon grinned and found the backdoor through the kitchen was loose. Shoving it open, he trotted outside onto the squishy ground. The rain that had ended the search the previous day was long over and gone and it looked like this day was going to be wonderful, if a bit muddy.

Circling the house, he kept his senses alert for Uzu-chan's presence. He'd been meaning to spend time with her ever since he'd been paired with her in the double battle. It had been great to fight by her side again after so long and he was eager to talk about it with her. And maybe if he paid her a few (well deserved) compliments she would warm up a bit more. She'd turned so cold after her evolution…

_:Mmm, that feels nice…:_

Senkou's ears perked up at the familiar voice and zeroed in on a tract of long grass a few yards down-slope from the house. He bounded down towards it and pushed his way through the vegetation into an open sandy spot—

_:And how about this?:_

Uzu-chan lay completely flat on her belly on the sand, eyes closed in bliss. Pressing along her spine with its front paws was another vaporeon. It was a stranger, a real prime specimen without any scars or imperfections, and…it was a male.

_:What is going on here?:_ Senkou demanded as he stepped out of the grass, small electric charges crackling over his spiky fur.

_:Who are you?:_ the strange vaporeon countered, narrowing his dark eyes.

_:Oh go away, Senkou,:_ Uzu-chan sighed. _:Can't you see that we're busy?:_

_ :Busy doing what? And who is he?:_ Senkou asked, waving a paw at the stranger.

_:My name is Aquarius and I am giving dear Uzu-chan a massage,:_ the male vaporeon informed him with a glare. _:Now please accept her wishes and leave.:_

_ :"Dear Uzu-chan"?:_ Senkou repeated darkly, a fresh wave of sparks dancing over his pelt. _:Who are you to call her that?:_

_ :I have her permission, which is the only permission that I need,:_ Aquarius replied tartly. _:Now leave before you make her tense and undo all of my work.:_

_ :__**You**__ leave, you—:_

_ :Shut up, Senkou!:_ Uzu-chan snapped. _:I like Aquarius. I like him a lot more than I like you. So beat it so that I can get my massage!:_

Senkou's anger and outrage at the other vaporeon for moving in on Uzu-chan drained out of him in a sudden icy rush. Uzu-chan wasn't just being cold to him; she was shunning him in favor of one of her own kind. The sparks ceased arcing on his fur, his ears drooped, and he slunk off without another word.

He slunk back towards the house, stopping when he found a nice-sized flagstone to lie upon. With a moan he lay on his side and threw a paw over his eyes. The sunlight that struck him felt lukewarm and he imaged his own personal clouds of misery coalescing over him.

_I knew Uzu-chan wasn't very keen on me,_ he sighed, _but I was sure that I could get her to warm back up to me if I was patient…_

Senkou sighed again and wondered how long it would take to die from his broken heart.

* * *

><p>On the living room floor, Naruto shifted in his sleeping bag. His arm flopped into his backpack with just enough force to knock it over. It was unzipped and a few of the pokéballs that had rested just inside of it rolled out. One of the pokéballs twitched, then popped open and Vee the eevee appeared in a flash of light.<p>

_"Vee!"_

He looked around in amazement at his new surroundings, taking in every little detail. Naruto, Sasuke, and Ken-Ichi were sleeping on the wooden floor in sleeping bags. Sakura was curled up on a love seat under a handmade quilt. Two adult humans that Vee didn't know, one with hair a lot like Naruto's and another with very long and very red hair, were out cold on a creaky bed that had been pulled out of a couch. And nested in a corner of the room in a pile of swirl-patterned cloth was a monster that looked like Demon, but was the wrong color.

_:…New friend?:_

Vee picked his way around the sleeping bags and crept up to the sleeping yellow fox—

_:No, let him sleep.:_

Vee paused and looked back to see Eve sitting by Naruto's backpack.

_:We don't know who he is,:_ she said. _:Let him sleep.:_

_ :Aw,:_ Vee pouted.

_:Come here,:_ she beckoned.

Still pouting the young eevee trudged to her side and sat down so that she could groom to the top of his head. Eve's tongue was warm and gentle, steady and comforting. His pouty mood eased away and he leaned into her flank with a happy sigh.

_:I love you,:_ he chirped.

_:I love you, too,:_ she said as she finished and patted his shoulder with her paw.

_:Let's play!:_ Vee decided.

_:Not in here,:_ Eve told him. _:Everyone else is still sleeping. They won't be happy if you wake them up.:_

_ :Play, play, play!:_ Vee sang as he bounced in circles.

_:Yes, yes…um…:_ She looked around, sniffed at the air, and settled on a direction. _:This way.:_

Vee pranced alongside her as Eve cautiously padded through the house. They came to a rickety door that rattled slightly as they approached it. When Eve pressed on it, it sung outwards and let them out into the morning sunshine.

_:Whee~!:_ Vee cried and bounded off onto the lawn.

The grass was short, springy, damp, and cool. Heedless of Eve's calls for him to wait he dove headlong into the tall grass the fringed the long. The ground started to slope downwards and the sudden drop made him slip, trip, and tumbled nose over bushy tail—

_Whump!_

Vee shook his spinning head and pushed up off what he'd crashed into. It was yellow, spiny, but soft instead of sharp. And it was warm, alive.

_:…Ow.:_

The little eevee stumbled back a step and blinked as the large yellow spiny thing moved and resolved itself into a monster. There was a spiky white ruff around its neck, it had long ears, slitted black eyes, and long thing legs. The yellow creature was laying out flat on a stone and looked like it had been sleeping.

_:What's the big idea?:_ it grumbled sourly. _:Couldn't you leave me in peace?:_

Something about the new monster tickled the back of Vee's brain. Something about how it looked, how it sounded, how it smelled, made him tingle and think hard. He was sure that he'd seen it before…in some of the many dreams that he'd had while still in the shell.

Before he'd hatched his whole life had been drifting from dream to dream. There had been the waking dreams where he'd floated in darkness and heard Naruto's voice muffled and faraway. There had been abstract dreams that even now that he'd hatched made no sense. There had been the pink-mist dream where he had seen Naruto for the first time. And then there had been dreams where he had seen two beings…that had…

_:…Pa…pa?:_

_:What?: _The yellow monster blinked, lifted its head, then sat up to look down on Vee critically. _:What was that?:_

_:Papa,:_ Vee repeated.

He had no idea what it meant. It was just something that popped into his mind when he'd had those egg-dreams. For some reason one of the dream-monster-beings reminded him of the creature staring down at him.

_:Eh?:_ the spiny yellow monster cocked its head. _:Wha—:_

_:Vee!:_ Eve cried as she pushed her way through the tall grass to the flat spot with the flat rock where Vee and the yellow monster sat. _:Where are yo—eep!:_

The yellow creature looked towards her, did a bit of a double-take, stared for a minute, and then put all of its attention back on Vee. It stood up on all four legs and lowered its head to sniff Vee's fur. Vee sat very still and waited, tense and unsure.

His egg-dreams about Naruto had seemed real, like a promise of the future. When he hatched, he was certain that he would see the source of the voice that he heard through his eggshell. And the pink-mist dream had only reinforced his expectations by allowing him to see Naruto before hatching.

But the other dreams about the mystery monsters had been so…fuzzy, so faint, that he never imagined he would meet either of them. Now one of them was here in the flesh and very real. This "Papa" monster was important—Vee's instincts screamed it—and he hoped that it would like him…

_:…It smells as if I should know you,:_ the yellow monster murmured as it finished its examination. _:Your name is Vee, is it?:_

Vee nodded.

_:Who…who are you?:_ Eve squeaked. _:What are you?:_

_:I'm Senkou,:_ the yellow monster answered, not even glancing in her direction. _:And I would happen to be a jolteon.:_

_:Papa?:_ Vee piped up hesitantly. _:…Play?:_

_:Sure, Son,:_ Papa smiled,_ :let's play.:_

* * *

><p>Eve retreated to the short grass near the house and watched as Vee played tag with his sire down-slope. They were mostly hidden from her sight by the tall grass, but every now and then one of them would leap into the air. Vee was having the time of his life, laughing and giggling as he scampered around…<p>

_They're bonding; I shouldn't get in the way._

Parents were important. Hers had loved and protected her for the early months of her life, and taught her essential survival skills. So it was great that Vee had found his sire and that they were getting along. She was happy for Vee.

_…I kind of wish that I could play, too._

_:What is all that racket?:_

Eve's ears twitched at the unexpected voice and she turned her head to see two new monsters emerging from the tall grass. They were sleek and blue with fins, flukes, and frills. Their general features brought to mind both Senkou the jolteon and Dawn the espeon, which made Eve wonder…

_Is this another of the paths of evolution that Dawn mentioned before?_

_:Senkou's just being a clown again,:_ one of the blue monsters sighed, shaking her head. _:Ignore him. That's what I do.:_

_ :I bow to your wisdom, dear Uzu-chan,:_ the other blue monster replied, dipping his finned head in a sort of gallant gesture.

_:Thank you, Aquarius,:_ Uzu-chan smiled as the pair continued on to the house. _:Now how about we—oh!:_

The two blue creatures halted at the sight of her and Eve cringed under their startled stares. In the Safari Zone there had never really been any shock from her friends over her silvery fur, just the acknowledgement that it was special. But outside of the Safari Zone everyone always seemed to stare like her pelt was shocking.

_:Hello,:_ the female, Uzu-chan, greeted with a polite nod. _:What's your name?:_

_ :Eve,:_ the gray eevee squeaked.

_:What a beautiful name,:_ the male, Aquarius, remarked. _:Yet you seem sad. Why is that?:_

_ :Oh…uh…um…:_

_:No need to be shy,:_ Uzu-chan assured her. _:We won't bite—promise!:_

Eve squirmed anxiously and wished that someone else that she knew was close at hand. _:Well…w-well…:_

_ "Vee~!"_

Vee skittered through the tall grasses and burst out onto the short-clipped lawn. Half a moment behind him came Senkou the jolteon. While Vee was running flat out, Senkou was deliberately holding down his own speed so as not to catch the little eevee too quickly. They zigged and zagged and did a few loops before Vee came within inches of colliding with Aquarius.

_:Hey! Watch where you're going!:_ Aquarius snapped.

The young eevee screeched to a halt and was surprised to find two new monsters for him to meet. His sudden halt caused Senkou to stumble and fall as the jolteon strove to not trample his offspring.

_:Hi!:_ Vee chirped between panting breaths. _:Friends?:_

_:Please watch where you run,:_ Aquarius said frostily. _:You nearly collided with me.:_

_ :Play?:_ Vee asked, eyes shining with hope.

_:Didn't you listen to a word that I said?:_ Aquarius frowned. _:No, I have no interest in playing with you. I want you to be more careful.:_

_ :Lay off him,:_ Senkou scowled as the jolteon regained his feet. _:Vee's just a hatchling.:_

_ :If he's so young, then as the adult you ought to behave more responsibly,:_ Aquarius countered.

Senkou narrowed his dark eyes and electrical sparks crackled over his spiny pelt.

_:Papa sparkles!:_ Vee squealed in delight.

_:"Papa"?:_ Uzu-chan repeated, eying the young eevee sharply. _:Why on earth is he calling you that, Senkou?:_

_:Why do you think?:_ Senkou responded. _:He's a hatchling eevee that has shown up when Naruto is present and he smells sort of familiar. Put that together and what does it mean, hmm?:_

_ :I love Naruto!:_ Vee declared, wagging his fox-like tail.

Uzu-chan hesitated before edging close enough to examine Vee's scent. As she studied him, Eve watched as Vee really took note of the water monster. He gazed at her wide-eyed, much like he'd stared at Senkou, and Eve began to wonder.

_:…Mama?:_ Vee wondered.

_:Yes,:_ Uzu-chan said with a slow smile and started to tongue-groom Vee's ear. _:That would be me.:_

Vee made a happy sound and hugged her foreleg. Uzu-chan pulled him close and relaxed into a maternal mode. Senkou looked immensely pleased. Aquarius seemed displeased and disgruntled. And watching the mother, child, and proud father, Eve felt like she was sitting yards away from them instead of only a few feet.

Eve had prepared herself to look after Vee and teach him all the things that a human wouldn't—couldn't—teach him so that he would grow up to be a proper pokémon since he didn't have parents…

…But now her purpose was pointless.

And she felt twice as lonely as she had before as she watched Vee's family, and missed her own.

_What am I going to do now?_

* * *

><p>Kyuumaru had meant to slip out of the house as soon as the rain stopped, but when he woke up the weather had long blown over and warm morning sunshine stabbed through the windows. All of the humans were up or getting up and the air was filling with the smell of toast and frying eggs. The children that had slept on the floor were now all sitting on a bed that had magically folded out of the larger couch and were pouring over the pages of a large book.<p>

"All of these pictures are from the walls of your grandfather's gym?" the girl with pink hair and green eyes asked.

"Yes," the oldest boy nodded. "When the gym was rebuilt after a fire a couple of different artists were commissioned to decorate the place with scenes and portraits that depicted the clan's history."

"That's so cool!" the girl gushed.

"I guess," the older boy shrugged. "Grandpa thinks a lot of it was a waste of money that would've been better spent on practical things."

"Who's this?" the blond boy asked as he pointed to something on the next page.

"That is the first Uzumaki and all of the pokémon that were allied with him," the oldest boy replied. "Nobody remembers his name anymore but he was one of the local legends."

"He had a red gyarados?" the girl wondered.

"Yeah, it used to terrorize the local fisherman—tore their nets, sank their boats, smashed their docks, and stuff like that. The Ancestor marshaled his monster allies together one day and battled the red gyarados king as a terrible storm rolled in from the deep ocean. In the end he fought the sea serpent with his bare hands until it relented, and he made it his subordinate." The teenager snorted. "For a long time after he died nobody really believed that that gyarados was red until science proved that such rare gyarados really could exist."

"Hn," a black-haired, black-eyed boy snorted, clearly not impressed.

A page was turned and the girl pointed excitedly. "Who is that?"

"That is a more recent ancestor, Mito Uzumaki," the older boy answered. "She sort of straddles the line between being famous and infamous. People like to focus on the good things that she did, but they still whisper about her more scandalous traits."

"Like what?" the blond wondered, rubbing at a cheek that bore faint scars that suggested whiskers.

"She never married or had children, she traveled extensively, and she trained all of her monsters for battle," the older boy said. "There was one story my dad told me about her where she defeated three Kurohi men and they were convinced that she couldn't be a woman—that she had to be a man dressed in drag." He rolled his eyes. "If she was a man in drag, she was the most beautiful woman that I've ever seen!"

Kyuumaru made a quiet snort of agreement. _Mito-sama was no man! Those fools were just sore losers. They didn't hold a candle to our skill!_

"I don't see how any of that was scandalous," the blond boy frowned. "She sounds pretty normal to me. Why do all the people in _Uzu no Kuni_ have such weird ideas about what girls are supposed to do?"

"It's not weird to us," the teenager shrugged. "It's just the way that things are; it's normal. When we visit the mainland and see how people live in other countries, we think _that's_ weird."

The blond boy frowned. "But—"

_"Breakfast is ready!"_ a woman's voice called.

Almost as one the four children abandoned the couch bed and scrambled for the kitchen.

Kyuumaru waited a moment before slowly rising out of his (sinfully comfortable) bed-sheet nest. He stretched out thoroughly and then padded over to the bed. Leaping up onto the mattress he crept over to the book which had been left open and studied the picture that they had been discussing.

Long ago he had sat with Mito on several different occasions to have portraits painted. But this image wasn't an oil painting or a reproduction of the portraits that he knew about. It was an image of a tile mosaic that not only portrayed his Mito-sama, but all of his old friends…and himself.

_So this is in the gym now?_ He cocked his head and stared intensely at the image, doing his best to commit it to memory. _I had no idea…_

_ It really has been a long time._

Shaking himself out, he hopped down to the floor and headed towards the front door to make his exit—

_"Ooh, cinnamon rolls?"_ a man cried from the kitchen. _"I want five!"_

_ "Don't be a pig, Arashi!"_ a woman's voice scolded. _"And they're not even baked yet! Egg your eggs first."_

Kyuumaru paused…and started to drool.

_Mmm…I think returning to the shrine can wait just a little tiny bit longer…_


End file.
